Okami Amaterasu and Celia's Adventure
by DesiQuiche
Summary: Celia, just a random girl, gets much more than she bargained for when playing Okami one day. Now it's up to her, Amaterasu, and Issun to save Nippon from the monsters that threaten to take over.
1. Prologue

Yeah, i've seriously got to stop making fanfictions that are inspired by other fanfictions. I mean, okay, FSAC wasn't inspired by anything, but seriously! *face/palm* Anyways, i'll stop ranting on that and get to the information that's actually important.(or that i find important, anyways)

Yes, this was inspired by ALBN. Sue me. Actually, i started to write this back when ALBN only had three chapters to it or something like that. Then i said 'screw it, i need to stop being unoriginal' and let it collect some dust for a few months, and about a month ago i pulled it up again, dusted it off, and decided to continue.

I should probably say this is rated T for two reasons. A) Okami is rated T and B) I am not Waka. Therefore, i do not know what the future will hold for this story.

My character in this story(Celia)has played through Okami up to Ryoshima Coast. So there might be some slight spoilers here and there, and not really much description on characters and areas. So if you haven't played that far and are fine with spoilers, then read on.(same to people who have gotten that far in the game) but if you're not fine with spoilers, then wait until you've gotten that far. It's only the begining of Ryoshima Coast, just to clarify.

Okay, one more thing before you can start reading.(sorry this is taking so long. O.o) As far as pairings go, there will be OC/Issun and maybe some Ammy/Waka. And any other normal pairing in Okami. I won't really bother with pairings if i don't feel like it,(Like Oki/Kai)so don't expect to see much of unimportant ones.

And now,(finally) on with the story!

Prologue-

Y'know, I'm horrible at introductions and such, so I'll just be simple.

I was at my house. My friend just left after spending the night. My wii was still on and had Mario Kart in it. I was sitting on a mattress in my living room wondering what the heck to do. My mom was going into town. Naturally, this would be a perfect opportunity to play Okami.

I replaced the disk that was already in the wii, picked up my wii remote, sat down, and waited for the main menu to come on. Normal, right?

Yeah, except for when I clicked continue, there were no save files there.

What?

I threw down the wii remote in frustration and anger. Not a good idea when you have the wrist strap on. I bit my lip to keep me from saying anything I shouldn't, and tried to calm down. The stupid wii must've glitched or something, because I was already to Ryoshima Coast. I checked the game files, all thirty of 'em, but there was no sign of my game. I had worked so hard getting there! Do you know how much time I spent getting to that part of the game in _3 days? _A lot, I can tell you that much. I gritted my teeth and pressed back. Looked like I was going to have to start from scratch. Again. Ugh.

I sat through watching the prologue about Nagi and Shiranui fighting Orochi and, to save you from spoilers, someone releasing Orochi. But then, when Sakuya appeared, the game slowly started to change. Minor details, yes, but you'd probably notice them if you were totally Okami-obsessed, like me. But I'm getting off track here.

Anyways, the game text looked sorta like this-

"My power has diminished over the years I've spent protecting this area. I don't have much time left in this world." A disk appeared in Sakuya's hands. "Now is the time. Amaterasu, shine your divine light upon this broken and polluted world. Let your heavenly rays become out hope as you guide us all!" The disk flew onto a wolf statue's back, and where the statue was a second ago, a majestic wolf now stood. "Ah! Such divine white light! Such beauty and grace!"

My game froze there. I groaned in frustration. I seriously needed to get my wii fixed before I murdered it myself.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds in the game getting louder. I turned my attention back to the screen again…and tried not to scream at what I saw. The red and black winds in the game's background were flying out of the television screen! They started to pull me in, and even though I tried to grab something, there was nothing to grab. I just had to brace myself as I was sucked into the TV screen. Into the game.

Into Okami.

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><p>I'm sorry if that seemed too short. I promise you, the chapters will get longer and more intresting. Just wait. Now, Celia?<p>

Celia: I still don't understand why I agreed to do this. *glares* read and review, please!...although I don't know why I need to tell you to read, I mean, you've already read it.

*face/palm*


	2. The start of the adventure

Yay! I'm back! And i've got another chapter! (okay, i'm not really back, just wait another week or so. But i_ do _have a chapter ready, so...)

Celia: We do not own Okami. Desi, however, does own me by soulbinding contract.

Thanks for that, Senom!

* * *

><p>Chapter 1-The start of the adventure<p>

"…happiness to my heart!" I was able to make out through the pounding of my head and the ringing in my ears.

"Oh! Who is this?" The same voice said. The words were a bit clearer than before.

"Ugh…" I slowly opened my eyes, and my first sight was a white wolf with crimson markings and a disk of fire on her back. I gasped and jumped back. Then I noticed that I felt different. I turned my head…and saw silver fur with purple markings! I yelped in surprise. I was…a wolf?

"What am I doing here? Wh-who are you?" I asked.

The white wolf yawned and put her head on her paws. Wait a second, that looked familiar…and then realization hit me. It was Amaterasu. I glanced at the women and noticed she sort of resembled Sakuya.

I felt sick. I had to be dreaming! But, I didn't want to be. I was in a video game, for (Amaterasu's) sake! Who wouldn't want that to happen?

"I am Sakuya, a wood sprite." She looked at the other wolf again, as if I didn't matter…well, I guess I didn't, but that's not the point! "Amaterasu, gaze above you and take in the condition of the sky. Since your untimely departure from out midst, the world has succumbed to devious and vicious beasts. They have ravaged out fine and beautiful country of Nippon…but never have the circumstances been worse than they are at this very moment. Please use your powers to banish the darkness and punish those who would do us harm."

"Am I invisible here?" I muttered.

"Hm?" Sakuya said, and I cringed, thinking she had heard me. Luckily she hadn't. "Eh? What is this? Has something stolen its way into my robe?" She began to laugh, and then something flew out of her robe. "Phew! What on earth? You again?" She asked with disdain in her voice.

"Ow ow ow ow ow! Are you nuts?" The thing said, waking up. Amaterasu instantly got up and growled at the stranger. I simply sighed. "Boy, for a little thing, you sure make a big fuss!" You're calling _us_ little, Bug? "I was just trying to make the conversation a bit more interesting, that's all!" Indeed you did, Issun.

"Were you napping in my cloths again, bug?" Sakuya questioned.

"Bug? I told you a thousand times not to call me that! I'm a wandering artist. The name's Issun! I'll show you just how great I am and it won't be long until you're bowing before my great brush!" Sure, Issun. Suuuure…

He put a picture on Amaterasu's face, then mine. I just shook it off my nose.

"Well, whaddya think? Even cuter than the real thing, no?" He bounced up to Amaterasu and jumped on her nose. She gave him a look of slight disgust. "What's with you Furball? You look kinds familiar…Got it! You look just like that statue of Shiranui!" Amaterasu had apparently had enough of Issun's antics and ate him. Too bad she spit him out. He was glowing red at that point.

"Whoa! Whaddya think you're doin'? Are you crazy? A handsome guy like me should never be covered in dog slobber! You'll regret messin' with the great Issun!" He stopped bounding and I saw a tiny sword slash the air in front of him. "Don't make me use my prized sword, Denkomaru against you!" There was a giant tremor and a growl after that.

"Jeez, Issun, what the heck did you do?" I asked.

"Nothing! I swear!" He jumped back onto Amaterasu's nose. "What's that growling sound, anyways? And why's it so dark?"  
>"O, great god Amaterasu…" Sakuya said, glowing pink. "I've used almost all the power I have to protect Kamiki Village. The village lives on. Their spirits lie encased in my fruit. Cut it free and the village will be reborn!" She finally acknowledged me again."O, great Celia," Hey, cool, I'm great!...somehow. "I use the last of my power to give you this." A divine instrument appeared in her hands. It looked like a small, flat, purple tornado. It had a few shards of darker purple crystals in it, all spinning in a circle. It landed on my back, and I smiled. It felt almost natural. I looked back at Sakuya, who was disappearing. "I trust in you both. I know you will lead us down the right path." I giant tree appeared in front of us.<p>

"Wow." I said.

"Only your power can restore life to this world."

"The tree's returned to normal, huh? That Sakuya girl sure said some weird stuff. The villagers' spirits are being kept inside the fruit…that fruit!" I noticed a giant peach hanging from one of the branches of the giant tree. "That girl said that if you cut it down, the village will be restored. But it's awfully high up there. If you don't use some kind of special power, there's no way you're gonna reach it."

"Then let's go find that power." Amaterasu stated.

"And hopefully get out of this darkness." I added.

"This darkness is really getting' to me, too. A lot can happen when you're taking a nap."

I exchanged glances with Amaterasu.

"Come on." She said simply, and walked into a portal at the base of the tree.

"Well, here goes nothing." I ran into the portal after my partner.

All the noise from the wind was gone, and to be quite honest, the quiet was nearly deafening. We were on some small islands, as far as I could tell, that were connected by bridges. Small trees dotted the small amount of land there was, and where there wasn't land, fog was slowly moving forward. It was all in all a beautiful place.

"Where are we?" Issun asked. "It got awfully quiet all of a sudden. I don't remember any place like this in the village. Well, we getter keep our eyes peeled. Boy, you two look really helpless. You sure you're gonna be okay?"

I growled. "We're not helpless! We are wolves. You are a bug. We should be worrying about you!"

"I'm not a bug!" Issun jumped onto my nose. "And you better not call me that again!" He went back to Amaterasu as she walked forwards.

"Sure thing, bug." I said as soon as he was out of earshot.

Of corse, this being in the beginning of the game, Issun would stop us a lot in this area.

Exhibit A was proven right then.

"Hold on!" Issun said as soon as we were about to cross the first bridge.

"Ugh, what now?" I growled.

"That's an orgin mirror! They say once your reflection appears on its surface…your memories will be stored in the mirror for all eternity!"

"Whoop-te-do. Can we get going now?" I asked, pointing my purple-streaked tail across the bridge.

"We should try the mirror out first." Amaterasu stated. "Just in case."

"Fine." We both stood on it at the same time. It glowed a little, then I jumped off. "Can we go _now?_"

"Someone's in a hurry." Issun scoffed.

"It's not my fault the world is ending." I replied, running farther away from my companions.

"Hey! You wanna come back here, Fluffy? You can sometimes find useful things in these pots!" I stopped and looked back. He was right; there were tons of pots behind me. I came back, giving Amaterasu and Issun a slightly guilty smile.

"You're rushing too much." Amaterasu told me. I hung my head in shame. I didn't care if Issun said it, but those words coming from Ammy hurt a little. "Take your time. We're not in a hurry." I nodded, looking up again. Ammy gave me a comforting smile. "You'll learn." I couldn't help but smile back.

"Dash into the pots to break them." Issun said. I instantly ran over to a pot and hit it with my head. It cracked upon impact. Yen fell out of it, and I smiled again.

"Money!" Issun cheered. "All right! Just keep doin' that, Fluffy, and we'll be rich in no time!" Amaterasu and I broke all the pots, then continued forward. Issun stopped us yet again to tell us more stuff.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there, Furball! Get a load of that! That chest looks mighty tempting. Let's go check it out. Getting up that high oughtta be a piece of cake. Just jump off the wall." Amaterasu did what Issun said and got to the top of the cliff with ease, but I was petrified. Issun was talking to Amaterasu when they realized I wasn't with them.

"Are you okay?" She asked me.

"I-I can't make it!" I cowered in fear. "I can't jump off the wall!"

"C'mon! You can do it, Silver!" Issun tried to cheer me on.

"Silver?" I asked.

"Yeah. Your name is too hard to pronounce. Sela?"

"Celia, not Sela."

"Well, I'mma call you Silver from now on." I rolled my eyes.

"Nicknames aside, how am I going to get up there?"

"Just run at it." Amaterasu instructed me. "Your instinct will do the rest."  
>"O-okay…" I took a deep breath, then jumped. MY claws dug into the rocky wall and before I knew what had happened I was at the top.<p>

"Well done." Ammy praised.

"I knew you could do it." Issun added.

"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's break some pottery!" I yelled enthusiastically, breaking all the pots I could see. I even broke a horse manikin. "So, how do we open the chest?" Ammy ran into it and the top flipped over. A small bone came out. "Awesome!" Issun bounced over and grabbed it, then it disappeared. "Hey, where'd it go?" I barked in surprise.

"Into our inventory. You can take it out and use it whenever you need it." Issun informed.

"Weird…" I said. We all continued onward, but the bridge was missing.

"Looks like the bridge is out. This shouldn't be too hard, um…Amaterasu, was it? That's kinda long. Mind if I call ya Ammy?"

"I don't think I have much say in the matter, do I?" She looked at me, and we shared a small laugh.

"Listen, Ammy, Silver…Ever heard of the spirits of the brush? Good brushwork has its own soul, 'least that's what they say. Just watch. It'd take all day to explain. A picture's worth a thousand words, right?" Right before our eyes, the bridge was fixed. "Nice, uh? Just a little technique I've mastered called Rejuvenation. It's a brush god power that can restore broken or missing things. I've practiced really hard to master this one technique. But there are 13! Each one is a power of one of the 13 brush gods. Originally, all 13 were a single powerful deity. When the deity died, its power was split into 13 separate gods. The gods now dwell within objects around us, but…god or no god, how could anyone have the power to master all 13?"

"Pure luck, I guess." I gave a wolf shrug then crossed over the newly made bridge. And we were stopped again. Who saw that coming?

"The River of Heavens? They mean the fabled stardust river? But I sure don't see anything like that around here." Issun mused. "It couldn't be that little buddle over there, could it?"

After breaking a couple pots, I went over to the water. "Hmm…Issun, do you think you can use Rejuvenation on this?" I asked.

"Smart idea." Ammy commented.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"I don't think so." Issun said. "Something like that would require more practice than I've had with my brush." I sighed.

"Well then, it looks like we'll have to find another path." Ammy announced, following a small incline.

"It's a dead end." I pointed out once we got to the top of the hill.

"But wow! Look at the stars twinkle!" I looked up and saw four starts in a pattern. "I haven't seen such a beautiful nighttime sky in ages. Hey…are those stars forming a constellation, or is it just me?" He was quiet for a minute while staring at the sky. "Hmm…there's one missing…guess I'll just have to draw in the missing star!" A leaf came out of nowhere and gently floated to the ground, and Issun mumbled some words I'd rather not repeat. "Bah…looks like I'm just not ready to draw missing stars. Do you think you can use your brushes to make a star and finish the constellation?"

"Issun, we're wolves. We don't carry paintbrushes." I said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh. Well then…use your tails!"

"…our tails? Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Point them at the sky and imagine a star there."

"Okay…" Ammy beat me to the punch, though. A star appeared in the sky, the constellation started to glow, and a giant dragon flew out of it. My jaw dropped. Then I realized that the scenery had changed too. Everything was gold. Pretty.

"Ah…Why if it isn't mother Amaterasu. And you, Celia." The dragon said. Wait, how the heck did it know my name?...creepy stalker of a brush god. "I apologize for not contacting you after these long years. Having never forgotten you, I, Yomigami, god of restoration, have eagerly awaited this day when we could again meet. While you were away, the 13 spirits of the brush that you once possessed, including myself, have been scattered across this land of men, and now lie in disarray. I became a constellation and managed to survive until now. The time has come for you to seek out and reunite all the techniques. Your power is what is needed to restore the dried riverbed of the heavens and renew the flow of stardust. "Yomigami turned into a small, colorful sphere with a kanji on it and flew into both me and Ammy. The background changed and we were back on the hilltop.

"Wow! That was Yomigami, the god of Rejuvenation! Wait…so you two have the power of rejuvenation now? Can you use it to restore the River of Heavens?"

"We can try!" I barked enthusiastically.

"Of course, that would mean you were as good with a brush as yours truly. Nah…it couldn't be true. Who else could master this incredible god technique?"

"Me and Ammy!" I yelled, running down the hill. I was so excited I even jumped on top of the random archway. A minute later Ammy and Issun arrived. I had already filled in half of the river. Amaterasu then filled in the other half.

"Whoa!" Issun yelped in surprise. "A river of stardust! So this really must be the River of Heavens. But what I wanna know is who the heck drew the darned thing!"

"Are you serious?" I muttered, but then decided just to give up. I quickly crossed the river and head-bashed the closest thing to me, which happened to be a chest. A small pouch fell out of it. "What the heck…" I said, sniffing the object.

"Look what you found, Fluffy!" Issun piped up from behind me. "This Astral Pouch here's amazing."

"The Astral Pouch." I smiled, knowing what it was now.

"It can swallow up lots of food." Issun continued. "Then when it's full, it can revive its owner if he or she dies! Let's start feeding it with whatever food we can find around here." I stepped aside to let Ammy see it, and then started breaking all the pots I could see. Ammy and I were able to find an apple, a peach, and an orange.

"How many pieces of food do we need to find until it's full?" Ammy asked.

"Two hundred, I think." Issun replied.

"Great. We're one seventeenth there!" I said sarcastically.

"Stop being so pessimistic, Silver, and let's get goin'!" I just rolled my eyes and ran into the next portal.

We walked up the cobblestone path, looking around at the scenery. "Is there any place that isn't beautiful here?" I asked.

"I sure hope not." Issun replied. "This place is supposed to be perfect."

"It's good to know Orochi hasn't been able to destroy this area." Amaterasu commented, looking at a waterfall. WE soon found ourselves in a cave, but the entrance was blocked after we walked in.

"Anyone else finding this suspicious?" I asked.

"Wait." Of course, Issun ignored me. "Is this…is this the legendary shrine? We must be in the Cave of Nagi! The legendary hero Nagi is enshrined here! He vanquished evil 100 years ago with the help of the white wolf Shiranui!" Amaterasu let out a small whine, and I glanced over at her. But Issun didn't take any notice. "First the River of Heavens and now this place…where the heck are we, Furball?"

"You honestly think me or Ammy would know?" I pointed out.

"Okay, okay. Just asking a question, jeez! Hey, look at that sword. It's in really bad shape." Leave it to Issun to get off-topic fast. "The gods sure didn't do much to protect this place. Hey, Ammy, Silver, doesn't Nagi's broken blade bug you? There must be something you can do to fix it."

I figured it out quickly. "Het, Ammy, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

She glanced up at the broken sword one more time, and then her eyes glimmered for a second. "Rejuvenation."

"I'm on it!" I announced, filling in where the sword should've been. It was fixed in an instant.

"That really was your brushwork all this time!" Issun tried to keep the shock out of his voice. It wasn't working. "How'd you both get so good? Exactly who are you two, anyway?"

"She's Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and I'm Celia, a random girl caught up in saving all of Nippon." I answered. If I could see Issun's face, he would've been glaring at me.

"Hey, there's another constellation!" I stood back, letting Ammy get this one since I got to fix the sword. A mouse appeared this time, and the landscape turned to the golden one we had seen just minutes before. The mouse pulled out a huge, and I mean _huge _sword. She saved it around a few times, slicing the air, and then stood it upright and balanced on it. Wow, that must've been hard for a little mouse to do. I was impressed.

"Well, well, well…if it isn't mother Amaterasu…and the brave Celia." Wait, so now I was also brave? These people obviously didn't know me that well… "It's been a long time. But with all these monsters around, the only place I could hide was in this shrine dedicated to ancient heroes. If there is anything I can do to assist you in your endeavors, I'm at your service."

"Can we borrow that sword?" I asked. Tachigami laughed.

"But of course. Make good use of this sword, as it was designed to conquer evil." She gave her power to us much like Yomigami had. Then the landscape faded back to the Cave of Nagi.

"Het, that was the god Tachigami, master of the powerslash technique. Wait a minute…If you two are getting all these powers…then you're just like that Shiranui! You know, the wolf who fought and died alongside the great Nagi. When Shiranui died, the wolf's power was split into 13 brush gods. This is crazy. Shiranui and Nagi? It's just like in the legend. Well, anyway, I've never seen this powerslash technique myself. How 'bout showing your stuff on that boulder over there? Lemme see one of you slice it in half by drawing a single line! I won't believe it till I see it!"

I was even more psyched that the last time. Before I even knew what I was doing, the boulder was in two pieces.

"Wow!" Issun said. I could tell that he was impressed. I smiled a little. "I didn't think you had it in ya, Fluffy! I'm not even in the same league as you! Guess I really overestimated myself…hey, Furball, Fluffy…Er…I mean, Amaterasu and Sela."

"Celia!"

"Same thing. I've made up my mind! If you're Shiranui reborn…"

"And a random girl!"

"Then that means you can master all 13 brush techniques, right? In that case, I think I'll tag along until I'm as good as you two! Consider yourselves lucky!" Amaterasu shook Issun off her and gave a small whine. "Heh heh… It's no use tryin' to change my mind."

"Darn."

"There's no stoppin' me once I've made a decision! But enough about me! Now that you've mastered the powerslash technique, you can cut down that thing Sakuya was talking about."

"I believe it's called a fruit, Issun."

"Let's go back and give it a shot!"

I gave Ammy a guilty smile. "You can cut down the wood. I sorta got carried away at first." Ammy smiled back, and then cut down the wood blocking our way out of the cave.

Once we were outside, I saw a blinking red arrow in front of me. I looked at it skeptically.

"That better just be instinct…"

We walked down the path, but right when we passed the first gate, a red barrier surrounded us. I gasped and Ammy instantly got into a battle stance.

"What the? Where'd they come from? Ah, whatever. Draw first ask questions later, right? You know those divine instruments you have on your backs? Well, just use their power against those imps!"

"I take the one on the right, you get the one on the left." Ammy told me, then jumped at one of the imps. The other advanced on me, and I backed up until my tail hit the barrier. I whimpered, but then tried to get it together. Was I really afraid of one green imp?

I used powerslash, cutting away what I hoped was most of its life. It came closer to attack me, and that's when I used my weapon. It shot out to hit the imp, then came back to me. A few more hits and it was gone. I smiled, until I heard a 'look out!' and felt something pierce my shoulder. I yelped and turned to see Ammy finish off the last imp. She picked up a small red orb and set it down in front of me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A spirit globe." She answered. "Put it on your shoulder." I did as she said. The cut on my shoulder healed and the blood disappeared.

"Thanks." I said.

"Anytime."

As we walked through the forest, I kept going crazy with my newly acquired power slash. Hey, it got us food, so I didn't complain.

Oh, wait. I did.

I ran out of ink, and my divine instrument disappeared along with my markings.

"What the-" I gasped. Ammy looked back at me and tried to stifle a laugh. "It's not funny! I feel helpless!"

"Don't worry, Fluffy." Issun said between laughs. "It'll come back in a sec." Right when he said that, it did.

"Don't use up all your ink. Then that happens." Ammy advised. I nodded, then we all continued forward, me being more careful not to run out of ink. Oh, and I stopped us for a second to cross the small stream and found a stray bead. Hooray for being curious! We also had a fight with two more imps, but you can guess how that turned out. I quickly stepped onto the origin mirror before we left the beautiful area.

* * *

><p>I told you the chapters would be long...wait, i did say that, didn't i? *checks last chapter* well, 4000 words is a lot for me. And, trust me, these chapters will get longer...i think XD Now, Celia?<p>

Celia: No. Have someone else do it.

Issun?

Issun: ...fine. Read and review, please.


	3. Welcome to Kamiki

I dunno why I took forever to type this. I'll just go ahead and blame laziness. Although I think part of it can also be blamed on lack of self-esteem. (spending a long time making a oneshot with 8k+ words and all I get are two reviews? C'mon guys, I feel really discouraged now.)

Celia: Disclaimer to hopefully distract her from the bad mood! Desi does not own Okami. Or Ammy. Or Issun. Or Sakuya. Or...

*duct tapes Celia's mouth shut* okay, they get it. *rolls eyes*

Chapter 2-Welcome to Kamiki

"The sky is so creepy looking." I shuddered as I looked up.

"Then cut the fruit down already!" Issun urged. Ammy complied, and with a swish of her tail the fruit fell to the ground. Flower petals swept away from us and the dark wind went away. From our vantage point we couldn't see much, but the place probably looked a lot better now.

"Wow! The village's been restored! Sakuya came through big time! She really was protecting the village!...but I sure wish I could've spent more time in her kimono, if ya know what I mean!" He laughed.

"Issun, seriously?" I asked in a not very amused tone.

Issun was probably glaring at me. "With all the monsters runnin' around and all…the village could still be in danger. Let's go see how they're all doing down there." Ammy and I ran down the path and stopped when we saw a statue.

"What the…" I went up and sniffed it. "Erm, why does he have a pot for a head?"

"I dunno, but I sure don't remember there being a statue here…Well, whatever. Let's go talk to the villagers!" I tackled it. "Okay, whaddya think you're doing?"

"I don't know." I replied. "What, I can't tackle a statue?"

"Now when we've got more important things to do. C'mon, Ammy. Let's just go already!" Amaterasu rolled her eyes and kept following the path, with me closely behind her.

"Now I see why you travel on _her _head." I muttered.

"I heard that!"

"I don't care!"

"There's a statue here, too…" Issun changed topics when he spotted another in a turnip field. "It's like the villagers have turned to stone or something…" A giant roar interrupted him. "Not again? That's definitely not one of those smaller monsters lurking about."

"Yeah, ya think?" I asked sarcastically.

"A roar like that's gotta belong to somethin' much bigger."

"Like Orochi?" I suggested in a quieter voice, afraid that just the mention of him might make him appear.

"Like Orochi." Ammy nodded.

"Let's hurry up and find someone with a pulse around here!"

"We should split up." Ammy said. "Issun, how many villagers are in Kamiki?"

"Kushi, Susano, Mr. Orange, Mrs. Orange, and Mushi." Issun answered.

"I'll check on Kushi and Susano." I offered.

"Then we'll look for the others."

"Wait, how will ya know where they are, Silver?" Issun asked. "I can guide Ammy, but I can't be baby-sitting two wolves in different places."

"I'll be fine, thank you very much." I growled at him. "And I don't think you're baby-sitting us as much as we are you." I heard Issun pull out Denkomaru. Then Ammy ate him and spit him out.

"Bleh, wolf slobber…" Issun complained.

"Both of you, stop arguing." Ammy said in a stern voice. I wasn't going to object with that tone coming from her. Issun also was smart enough not to.

"'Kay, see ya back here." I quickly dashed off. I skidded to a stop in front of Kushi. She was bent over, probably gathering rice for her sake. But she was a statue, just like the other two villagers I'd seen so far. I tried to convince myself that they'd be fine, but I was still concerned for all of them.

Susano wasn't any better. He was frozen while sleeping.(big shocker there) I dashed out of the house and found Ammy and Issun looking at Mushi.

"…everyone was fine here just a few hours ago!" I heard Issun's tiny voice as I got closer.

"Susano and Kushi aren't moving." I told them as soon as I was in front of Ammy.

"There's definitely something strange goin' on around here. The village is back, but what's up with the dark sky?" His voice became more panicked. "Maybe it's dark outside the village, too?" I resisted the urge to face/paw. It helped that it was physically impossible for a wolf to do. "Let's go to higher ground so we can take a look!" The arrow appeared once more.

"Again, I really hope that's just instinct." Ammy and I followed the arrow(while listening to Issun's complaints to go faster)to the sacred deck.

"This is bad." Issun said when he saw the sky. "The sun's not even shining. It's as black as night as far as the eye can see. And not a single villager can move a muscle…is it some kind of curse? Did a monster do this? It's not gonna stay like this forever, is it? If only the sun were out to light our way…" Then Issun started talking about drawing a circle in the sky or something…Okay, so I didn't listen. Sue me. I've played Okami before, I know the brush strokes!

I shared a glance with Ammy, then stepped back. This was her specialty. I'd let her do it. She nodded, then drew a circle with her tail. The sun instantly appeared and I smiled at the warmth. So did Ammy. I don't know about Issun, not did I care…okay, actually, he was shocked.

"Wh-wh-what the?" Then he used that tiny little brain of his for once. "Hm…come to think of it, your name _is _Amaterasu. That's the name of the sun god! So, it'd follow that you had the sunrise technique from the start. You can even turn night into day with it…wow! You're no run-of-the-mill god, that's for sure! 'The flowing brush is like music from the heavens.' That's a line from one of my grandfather's poems. He felt a skilled artist was like a musician of shape and color. Since you're such a great artist yourself, why don't we name your brushwork after that poem of his? It's called Celestial Brush! After all, your brush did bring out the sun!"

"What about me?" I whimpered. Wait, why'd I whimper?...um, random mood swing? Yeah, let's go with that…

"You didn't make the sun."

"I can if I want to!"

"But you didn't."

I growled in frustration. Issun was so dang annoying!

"Well, Ammy…let's get back to the village!" Oh, leave out poor Celia, why don't you? "I wanna see if the villagers are back to normal now."

"Hm? Who are you?" Asked a voice behind us. We turned around to find…an old man bouncing an orange on his head.

"Mr. Orange." Issun whispered to me, deciding to actually be kind for once. Yeah, I was surprised, too. I whispered a thank you back before the man talked again.

"A white wolf? Not the one who fought that terrible creature with Nagi?"

"And once again, I am invisible." I complained, putting my head on my paws to try to sleep.

"You couldn't possibly be the legendary Shiranui!" She is. "No, it can't be…" Believe it, dude. "That story is over 100 years old!" Ever heard of reincarnation? "Still, you do look a lot like that statue of Shiranui." Ammy yawned. Great, now she's taking my example. "On the other hand, you don't look quite as smart…"

That got my attention. I jumped up and prepared to attack, as did Ammy. "No one talks like that about my friends!"

"Wh-wh-whoa!" Grandpa stuttered. He tried to punch us. I, in turn, tried not to laugh. "No need to growl like that. Can you really understand what I'm saying?"

"Does it look like we can't?" I growled. Of course, it was useless.

"Well, I'm not one to mince words." Barks. We're wolves. "I just state the facts.

"That just made it more offensive!"

A black wind started to blow, and I spotted a few green imps on a cliff. So did Ammy.

"Hm? What's this sudden chill down my spine?" Gramps asked.

"Here they come, you two…" Issun warned. "Those are the monsters that've been plaguing these lands. They sneak into villages and cause all sorts of trouble!" Then let's stop 'em!" I growled.

"Step aside, Fluffy! This is a job for my trusty sword, Denkomaru!"

The green imps didn't seem at all threatened. They jumped at us and Ammy grabbed Mr. Orange, batted the imps away, and managed to get the orange back on his head within the span of a few seconds. She threw Gramps off the deck, and then we lunged for the imps. We fought them off pretty quickly. Ammy and I even got a demon fang each. And I didn't get hurt as much, either! Yay! I was doin' better!

The surrounding area was restored, and we even got 20 praise. (basically, colorful orbs that make you more powerful)

"Wow! You two get aggressive when you're mad, don't ya?"

_And if you keep annoying me you'll see how mad I can get, _I thought.

And then Issun explained what praise is, which I already did, so I won't bore you with redundancy. Oh, but I should probably mention Divine Intervention. Like, when we cut down the fruit, or when a spring is filled with water again, or when nature is restored to how it used to look, that's divine intervention. The more divine interventions Ammy and I pulled off, the more praise we got. Which meant more power, as I stated before.

"Few people may believe in gods these days, and that may weaken you, but if you try real hard, your true power might just shine through! But boy, there's sure been lotsa monsters around lately. And that Mr. Orange you tossed up on the sacred deck…looks like he thinks you two are regular wolves."

"Thanks for making us feel special, Issun." I said sarcastically.

"Seems the gods have grown so weak people can't see them anymore." Issun started grumbling about something. "Oh, uh…anyway, I'll show you around the village." He said quickly. "I have a feeling we're in for an epic adventure! This should be fun, Furball!"

"What about me?"

"This should be fun, Fluffy!" He repeated in a sing-song voice.

"Thank you."

The first thing I did was…jump into the spring and grab the floating spirit orbs. Don't judge me! By the time I got out of the water an shook my fur dry, Ammy had opened a chest.

"Hey, look at this sweet grub you found! Hey, wait…this is animal food! Still, we should save it to give to animals."

"We are animals." Amaterasu pointed out.

"Did you find bug food, by any chance?" I asked in a teasing manner.

"Why I oughtta-" Issun's sentence was cut short when he became covered in ink. By the time he shook it off, I was already off and running. "Get back here!" I heard his voice dangerously close.

"You'll never catch me alive!" I yelled back.

…Too bad I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and tripped over Mr. Orange.

"Oof!"

"Never catch you alive, huh?" I felt something on my head. I decided to eat it, but then I spit it out.

"You taste disgusting, Issun!"

"I'm the one that was in a wolf's mouth!"

"A canine's mouth is actually more sanitary than a human's, thank you very much." I sat up and turned my back towards him. Ammy rejoined us after she fed the birds that were near the sacred deck. She sighed when she saw Issun and I turned away from each other.

"Really, you two?" She asked.

"She ate me!" Issun defended.

"Yeah, well, that's the third of a thousand experiences you're going to get with wolf spit." I said. But I still refused to turn towards him.

"Look, you two." Ammy spoke up. "We have to work together. Orochi isn't just going to let us waltz into the moon cave and kill him. And neither are any other monsters we come across. We need to work together as a team. Because that's what we are. A team. If we put our minds to it, I know we can do anything. But to do that we need to work together." I finally turned around. I saw Issun slowly loose his red glow.

"I'll work with Silver." He grumbled.

"And I'll try to tolerate Issun." I said in the same excited tone.

"Good." Ammy's ears perked up when she glanced at the wood supporting the sacred deck.

"What are you doing?" I asked when I saw her jump off a rock and make it to one of the pieces of wood. I heard a power slash, then she jumped back down.

"Stray bead." She replied. I suddenly felt the need to find a hidden chest. I couldn't let Ammy be the best, god or no god.

_That could work. _I spotted the top of a chest poking out of the ground. I quickly dug it out and found a traveler's charm. I looked up at Ammy, who gave me a smile. I started to wag my tail.

"Come on, let's get down to the village already!" Issun said.

"I wanna talk to this dude first." I walked over to Komuso.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…"

"Ah…I feel it. I sense it. Foul beast dwell in this place! Concentrate. Look hard. You see. Right behind you now…" A barrier signaling a fight came up, but…I was alone.

"Ammy!" I yelled in a panicked voice. "Issun! Anyone!" But I knew they couldn't hear me. Three green imps came out of nowhere. I took a breath and calmed myself down, preparing to fight. I'd take 'em down one at a time.

I threw my weapon at the imp closest to me. After seven hits it flew into the air, and I power slashed it for a demon fang. I felt something hit my side. I growled and powerslashed the imp that hurt me. While it was weak, I threw my weapon at it a few more times and it died. I got a demon fang from that one, too. I turned to face the last imp, even though I was out of ink. I ran at it and used wolf-fu to kill it. My ink came back just in time for me to get another demon fang.

"Are you okay?" I heard Ammy ask when the barrier disappeared.

"I'm fine." I assured her, picking up a spirit globe and putting it against the cut on my side. It healed instantly. "See? That was my only injury."

"Humans are not witness to such battles, but I saw it!" Komuso said. "The fighting went on for exactly 12 seconds! Hmm…you fight well. I have chosen the path of Buddha, but in you I sense another power. And I see the path you have chosen is also the path of truth." We got some more praise.

"Awesome!" I smiled. "Okay Issun, now we can go to the village." We ran past the turnip field and Mushi was the first one to notice us.

"Hm? White and silver wolves? Now that's just plain weird. You sure look like weak little buggers…think you could beat my dog, Hayabusa? Well, listen to this…there's this field that my mama tends to, you see…well, Hayabusa managed to dig up 9 turnips in a row, even though my mama was chasing him around and trying to slug him! There are actually 10 turnips in that field…Hayabusa is fixin' to get all 10. Think you can dig up all the turnips in my mama's field? Don't forget, you'll have to avoid being slugged by my mama! I'll admit you're the better canine if you do it!"

"Ack…she's gonna try to slug us? Not exactly my idea of a good time. At least you have your Celestial Brushes and wicked brushstrokes."

"Um, can I forfeit?" I asked. "Or at least save the turnip-digging for later?"

"That would probably be best." Ammy agreed.

"I'mma go say hi to Kushi now!" I ran off towards the rice field. As soon as I set foot in it, Kushi pet me. And I found out why animals like that so much. For some reason, it's awesome. It cannot be explained. But anyways…Kushi smiled at me and went back to gathering rice. I nudged her hand, trying to get her to talk to me.

"Well, what a fine looking wolf! What's your name?" I just barked. "Mine's Kushi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Working in the fields again, are ya?" I felt Issun jump onto my head.

"Issun! Are you and the wolf together?" Kushi asked. If I wasn't a wolf, I would've blushed from an alternate meaning to that sentence…

"Nah, I hang out with her, but I'm usually on a different wolf's head."

"Oh. Well, this is where I grow my sake, you know." Okay, random topic change… "But I have to manage the harvest all on my own. It's hard work. Maybe I should have Susano give me a hand again this year. Oh, just listen to me blabbering on! I just can't help chatting to you!" She started to get back to work, but I barked again, wanting her to tell me some information about Kamiki. Okay, I already knew a lot, but how can I just know things? Issun would question me. And that was the last thing I needed at the moment. "Susano's a neighbor of mine. He's a little unusual, but…he goes around with a huge sword slung over his shoulder. He's always practicing with it. They say he's a descendant of our legendary hero, Nagi. And he loves his sake, too. He often pops around here to buy it. Make sure to say hello when you see Susano. He could use a friend, I should think. He's always on his own."

"We will. See ya, Kushi." Issun said before I ran off to find Ammy. She was listening to an old woman with an orange on her head. Mrs. Orange.

"We're back." I announced.

"Good, because Mrs. Orange wants the sun closer. Do you wanna draw it this time?"

"Sure!" I smiled, then drew a circle in the sky. The sun appeared right where I drew it.

"My word!" Mrs. Orange exclaimed. "The sun has suddenly drawn so close…" Pun intended? "My laundry will dry in no time. First my pole, and now this? When will the miracles never cease? Maybe I ought to make some cherry cakes to offer to the sun. Come back if you want some too, Snowball." Again with the ignoring me. "No one makes better cherry cakes. They're mouth-watering good!"

"Yay! More praise!" I cheered, completely ignoring the promise of food.

"Look down there." Issun bounced up to the water's edge. "Treasure! D'ya think you can use…"

"Way ahead of you!" I powerslashed both chests and jumped into the water. I grabbed a rabbit statue and glass beads before jumping back onto land.

"Next stop, Susano's house!" Issun commanded as he jumped onto Ammy's head. When we got closer a loud snoring could be heard. "Sheesh…he's always snoring like a bear. This is the home of the two-bit, middle-aged warrior, Susano. He goes around claiming to be a descendant of Nagi. He's famous around here for his lineage, but he's awfully lazy and too off the wall to be a descendant of a legendary hero."

"Well, let's go visit him anyways." Ammy said before walking into his house. I just followed. The first thing I decided to do was powerslash a suspicious-looking scroll on his wall.

…there was a picture of Kushi behind it.

"Uh…" Issun said while sweat dropping.

"I don't know whether to be amused or disturbed…" I commented.

"Let's pretend we never saw that…" Ammy suggested.

"Agreed." Issun and I said in unison. We just jumped down a hole(there was a ladder, but honestly, how would a wolf use that?) and found Susano as I last saw him. Lying on the ground, sleeping.

"I…am the…greatest…" He mumbled in his sleep. I tried tackling him. Nothing.

"If that didn't wake him up, nothing will." Issun said. "Let's just leave him for a while and find somethin' else to do." We took Issun's advice and left Susano to his sleep.

"Let's go this way." I suggested, pointing with my muzzle to the place I knew we had to go next.

"But it's almost night. And I want some cherry cakes!" Issun protested.

"Really? 'Cuz I can stall nighttime." I said in an innocent voice while pointing my tail at the sky.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would."

Before I knew what was happening, Issun was on the ground covered in Ammy's slobber and my tail was being pinned to the ground by a sun goddess.

"Ack! Get off of my tail!" I tried to pull away but her paws were firmly on my tail. "Okay, okay, I won't use sunrise! Now please get off, I think it's losing circulation!" Ammy finally complied, backing off. I shook my tail to try to get feeling back into it.

"To Mrs. Orange's house!" Issun jumped back on Ammy's head.

"Okay, Mr. Bossy."

I barked as soon as we were inside. Mrs. Orange turned around. "Oh, I almost forgot. I promised you some cherry cakes, didn't I? I'll get you some fresh ones in a jiffy. You wait right there. Upsy-daisy…"

Then she moved over to the stove. Or more like floated over. In slow-motion. Then I dunno what the heck she did after that, but I heard punching and the next thing I knew, there were cherry cakes on the ground.

"Take these with you, dears. They're best when they're fresh!" She walked back next to the fire as I devoured my cherry cake. Ammy ate hers, too. Issun, I really don't know how, but he ate it in a few bites. And I also grabbed some oranges in the corner of their house.

"Ah…you're that unruly white wolf!" Mr. Orange said when he noticed Ammy.

"The one and only." I said quietly to myself.

"That was quite a toss you gave me. Well white one, I respect animals and their customs, but anyone who causes trouble in this village shall be dealt with harshly. You two are spunky little things, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are!" I answered in a sing-song voice while trying to jump up and balance myself on my hind legs.

"Hello, Mr. Orange. Still full of vim and vigor, I see." Issun piped up.

"Say…aren't you that little trouble maker, Issun?"

"Ooooh, someone's in trouble." I said as Issun gulped.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times…aw, never mind. I've got better things to do." He started mumbling to himself. "Did you notice the sacred tree up on the hill in the village? She's known as Konahana. She's been worshipped as our guardian deity for ages now." I now envy Sakuya. "But her flowers and fruit withered quite some time ago." I take that back. "What's more, I had a dreadful dream last night. A giant monster appeared and swallowed up the whole village. Might it be a sign of even worse things to come?"

"I sure hope not." Issun and I said at the same time.

"I sure would like to see Konahana restored to her former glory. Oh well, troublemakers like you couldn't possibly understand…"

"I take offense!" I growled.

"Let it go, Fluffy."

"…fine." I walked out of the house.

"Good doggie."

"Don't you start calling me that…"

"Then you stop calling me a bug!"

"But you are!"

"No, I'm not!

"Okay then, what are you?" I challenged.

"A poncle-" Issun shut his mouth.

"A wha-?" I stopped and sat down.

"Nothing."

"No, seriously. Tell me. What's a poncle?"

"It's a tiny human. Are you happy now?"

I let the information sink in. He really wasn't a bug…

"Why do you have a bug on your head if you don't like being called a bug?"

"It's a helmet, and all poncles have them. Now enough questions already!"

I didn't realize Ammy wasn't with us until she skidded to a halt beside me.

"Where were you?"

"I found a chest with a coral fragment in the house." Ammy smiled. "Oh, and if we come back here tomorrow night, we'll get more cherry cakes."

"Wait, how'd you find the chest?" I asked.

"Glowing white spot. They only appear at night."

"Okay…like, uh…that?" I ran over to the turnip field and dug up a chest with a dragonfly bead. Ammy laughed, and I wagged my tail like an excited puppy.

"Don't accidentally cut something important!" Issun warned.

I rolled my eyes. "I know when and when not to use the celestial brush, Issun." I demonstrated by drawing a circle in the sky. "See? No harm done…" The sun appeared in the sky. I saw Mushi's mom walk out of her house. She spotted me standing next to a hole in her turnip field.

"Um, Silver? I think you might wanna _run!_" Issun yelled. I took his advice and dashed off. Mushi's mom stopped giving chase after we crossed the bridge.

"Dumb wolves…" She muttered.

"Thanks for the compliment!" I barked sarcastically, but I knew she wouldn't understand.

"You know when and when not to use it, huh?" Issun asked me smugly.

"Oh, shut it. Let's just go where we wanted to in the first place." Ammy and I ran up the path to find a giant boulder blocking the way and a fat dude trying to move it. Yeah, like that rock was going to actually be moved any time soon.

"Heave! Heave! This is weird! My mind really wants to shift this rock, but my body won't cooperate. It's like I'm made of lead!"

Cue the read imp appearing out of nowhere.

Cue the beginning of a battle.

Cue me and Ammy kicking monster butt.

"Kill the green ones first?" I asked.

"Yep." Ammy confirmed, and we jumped off in different directions, getting rid of the green imps. I decided to powerslash the red one with the same stroke as I used to get the floral finisher for the green, but I forgot that he'd block it with his banjo.

"What the-" I said.

"Ammy, thinking fast, powerslashed the banjo, leaving the imp wide open for attacks. We both moved it, hitting it until it finally died. We even got the floral finisher. And more praise!

"Hey, you two suddenly started glowing!" Issun shouted in our ears like we had hearing problems or something. At this rate, we would. "That means your divine attributes can be enhanced!" Ammy just stood there. "Well, you sure look excited." He said in a sarcastic tone.

"I know, right?"

"Here, I'll show you what I mean. Let's try enhancing your divine attributes! You can enhance any attribute you want! Solar energy, ink, astral pouch, or purse."

I looked at Ammy. "Ink?"

"Ink." She nodded.

"Ink it is, then." I suddenly felt slightly more powerful.

"Well? Is it all coming back to you or what?" Issun asked.

"Not really…" Ammy admitted.

"Huh? It's hard to notice such a small enhancement? Oh, lighten up, Furball! This is one big step for the new and improved Amaterasu and Cela!"

"Celia."

"Same difference. Anyways, keep up the good work! Oh, I almost forgot! We better check up on that one dude!"

"Susano?"

"Yeah, him."

"Ah…I feel as light as a feather now!" The merchant said. "Sadly, that doesn't make it any easier to shift this boulder. Who went and blocked the only path out of here, anyway?" I closed my mouth to keep quiet."There's no way I can get back to the city now. Say, pups, your owner lives here in the village, right?"

"Yeah, sure…" Good thing people can only hear our words as barks and growls.

"So you must know about that guy, Susano. Can you get him to come here?"

"Can pigs fly?" Ammy asked, and I laughed.

"They say he's a descendant of the legendary hero, Nagi."

"Descendant of Nagi, my tail." I barked.

"If anyone can do something about this rock, it's him."

"Then it seems like the boulder is here to stay." Issun said. "But seriously, that's strange. This boulder wasn't here before…"

Cue the hopefully instinct-made arrow!

…and it led us right to Susano's house. I think my instinct should no longer be trusted.

"Y'know, this didn't work last time." Issun pointed out.

"Well, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" I tackled Susano once more.

"What the? Huh?" He stood up and stretched. "Ah…I feel so well-rested!"

"Do you think sleeping for more than an entire day had anything to do with it?" I asked.

"Nah." Issun answered.

"I planned to meditate underground but fell fast asleep!" He continued. "Huh? Who are you? And what business do you have with Susano, the greatest warrior ever?"

"Yeah, I'd like to fight you and watch you loose pathetically." Ah, the advantages to people not understanding you.

"Do even the beast know of my great exploits now?" I felt something hitting my tail. Ammy! Was she seriously wagging her tail? "Well, Fido, Lassie," Seriously? His name for me is Lassie? "I'm not looking for apprentices. Go back to the mountains and play with your monkey friends." He laid back down. "How dare mangy mutts like you interrupt my meditation!"

"Excuse me?"

"Get a load of this guy." Issun said. "All brawn and no brains."

"No, he doesn't even have brawn." Ammy pointed out.

"Quit messin' around and come with us!"

"Hm? You snuck in here again?" Susano stood up. "Quit bugging me you…you…bug!"

"I told you, don't call me a bug!" Issun's glow turned from green to red, and he started bouncing in rage. I got into a fighting position and growled. Ammy was the only one who didn't seem annoyed. "C'mon, you two, we'll take him with us!"

"What do you think you're doing?" Susano yelled before Ammy picked him up and threw him on her back. "Put me down this instant! What will the neighbors think?"

I swear, saw a light bulb appear above my head. "Hey, Ammy?"

"What?"

"Can I be the one taking Susano for a ride?"

"Um, sure…" She threw him onto my back. Issun figured out what I was planning and jumped onto my head.

This was gonna be fun.

* * *

><p>Celia and Issun: mwahahahaha...<p>

Ammy: uh...

*face/palm*


	4. Your objective is

Okay, lemme get this straight. I type up another chapter for this story, and yet when I check up on it, I haven't gotten any reviews yet?(it's only been 24 hours, but i'm sure that I could've had one review in that time. There are about 20 people reading this) C'mon, guys! I'm going to end up giving up on this if this continues. I'm already discouraged right now, I don't need you all to stop reviewing. I don't care if you don't even have an account, can't you just send an annonamous review? Even just 'cool story' would be fine with me. But I will seriously stop this if I don't have any reviewers, and I feel bad saying that this early into the story. So please, just take a minute or two out of your day to give a comment about this or something. It won't kill you.

Celia: Are you done ranting?

I believe so, yes.

Issun: I'm doin' the disclaimer this time. Desi does not own Okami.

Celia: I'd be in it if she did.

yes, you would be.

Chapter 3-Your objective is…

"Where should we go first?" I asked.

"Kushi." Issun answered. I could imagine a smirk on his face.

"Oh, definitely!" I ran off to the rice field with Susano yelling the entire way.

"Oh, hello Susano." Kushi smiled. "Looks like you've made a good pal there. Silver really likes you."

"Uh…yeah…" An embarrassed blush covered Susano's face. Kushi didn't even seem to notice and went back to gathering rice.

Some comments we heard while running through the village were…

"Boy, you're sure weird, Susano. Is that supposed to be some new kind of training or what?"

"Oh…Susano! That sure looks like fun! But shouldn't you be practicing your swordplay?"

"It better not be you messin' up my garden, Susano! You'll get a good thumpin' if it is!"

"I-I hope you are not mistreating that fine wolf!"

"Susano! Stop frolicking around. The day is meant for work. Come give me a hand if you have time to waste like that!"

"Are you both done yet?" Ammy asked us once we crossed the bridge.

"Yes, we are." And we had a lot of fun, too." I said while Issun once again switched to Ammy's head. We took Susano to the giant boulder and I promptly threw him off my back.

"You mangy mutts!" Susano aid while he got up. "You brought me all the way here just to test yourselves against me?"

"And to embarrass you in front of Kushi." I gave an innocent smile.

"Prepare to taste the wrath of my trusty blade, Tohenboku!"

"H-hold on a minute!" The merchant interrupted. "You're the legendary Susano?"

"Yep! None other than Susano, the greatest warrior who ever lived! And by the way, never interrupt warriors engaged in battle!"

"But I've got a favor to ask you. This huge boulder blocking the path is really getting in my way. Can't you do something about it?"

"What?" The shock was evident in his voice.

"Come on! Please! I mean, you are Nagi's descendant, aren't you? Surely one stone's no match for your mighty skills, right?"

"Hmm…it is certainly not beyond my ability."

"Yeah, right." Issun commented. "He couldn't slash a dummy in half if he wanted to."

The merchant didn't notice Issun. "Really? Great! Okay, then! No time like the present. Go for it!"

"Wait!" Susano started sweating. "A boulder of this size is not very easy, even for me. This will require my utmost focus to magnify the power of my sword. I shall retire to the training grounds to make preparations. Wait for my return." Then he ran off.

"Hmm…I wonder. I've never seen this guy train seriously…ever." Issun said.

"So we're going to go babysit the greatest warrior ever?"

"Yep." When we went behind Susano's house, we found him lying on the ground, staring at an empty jug of sake. He started talking to himself by the time we reached him.

"I know I told that merchant I could help, but a boulder of that size? I don't care if I'm of a legendary bloodline, it's just too big!" He looked inside the jug of sake, then tried shaking it to get more to come out, but it was completely gone. "Oh no! I can't believe I'm out of sake at a time like this! This won't do one bit." He threw it over his shoulder. "That's it for today. I'll just have to train tomorrow. I can't train without sake to fuel the fire, after all! 'Why do today what you can do tomorrow?' That's doing things the Susano way! Hah ha ha ha!"

"Sake? Hmm…" Issun trailed. "Oh yeah! This village has a sake brewing girl, doesn't it?"

"Great memory you've got there, Issun." I said sarcastically.

"Shut up, I haven't visited Kamiki in a while. Let's just get to Kushi's place already."

"Have you forgotten where that is, too?"

"No. It's right there!"

"…um, Issun? That's Susano's house." Amaterasu said.

"Wha-I meant to point over there!" He pointed Denkomaru at the building where Kushi made her sake.

"Close enough." We ran over to Kushi's rice field, where Ammy and I were promptly pet. Yes, Kushi must really like animals.

"Oh, hello there. I've got a bit of a problem, you know." She told us.

"It must be a pretty big problem if you're telling two wolves and a poncle."

"Hey!"

"Face it, Issun. You're not that great of a help."

"Fine then! The next time you need help, I won't give it to you!"

"That's fine by me."

Kushi gave Issun a strange look before continuing. "I have to polish the rice in the mill house before I can use it. But the mill's broken. A monster broke it the other day. It's hopeless trying to make good sake without clean rice."

"Wow, that's too bad." Issun commented.

"I should have never let that monster try my new thunder brew. A broken mill and flattened crops. That's all the thanks I get."

"Don't go giving monsters sake! They're bad enough sober!" Sheesh…what was she thinking? Anyway, I guess this is a matter of fixing something that's broken, right? Sounds like something that can be handled with a celestial brush."

"Let's fix a mill, then." Ammy walked to the other side of the building, and by the time she came back I could hear the wheel turning again. Kushi apparently heard it too, because she decided to go take a look at it.

"What's this? The mill's been mended! Who on earth did that?" Us, thank you. "I'd completely given up on the idea of making my sake. But now I can get on with polishing the rice. Well, there's no time like the present! I better get started." She walked back into the mill house.

"Does anyone else notice how different her motto is from Susano's?" I asked.

"Well, they do say opposites attract." Issun said. "Heh heh…in that case, I'll have tons of babes chasing after me before long."

"The only differences you share with most girls is your gender and your size." I smirked.

"It's the sad truth." Wait, Ammy was joining in one of Issun and my arguments? Hurry, get a video camera! Post it on youtube!

…oh, wait. Okami takes place in ancient Japan, doesn't it? Darn. I'd have to settle for fanfiction when I got back.

"I feel betrayed, Furball."

"And we should care because…" I looked at him and expected him to answer.

"Because we've known each other for so long!"

"A day is long?"

"Apparently." Ammy said.

"You two can be so mean sometimes." Issun had (fake?) hurt in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Issun." I apologized. "I'll try to stop making jokes about your size, no matter how easy they may be to make." It may have been half-apology, half-insult, but he decided to take what he could get.

"So, are we gonna get some sake, or what?" Ammy and I shared a glance, then went into the mill house.

And of course Kushi had to pet us before talking.

"You're interested in how to brew sake, are you, Snowy and Silver? Well, this thing here's for polishing the rice, you see." I looked over at the weird contraption next to her. "Oh, I'll tell you what. I've got something I think you'll like. Hee hee. It's just some leftover stock from the store, but I made it myself! It's called Vista of the Gods! Oh, but are either of you even old enough to drink?"

"I'm only thirteen, so probably not." I gave a wolf shrug.

"Well, I was alive a hundred years ago." Ammy said.

"Okay then, Furball, looks like you're carrying the sake." Issun said. Ammy already had the jug in her jaws. Then we left for Susano's house again. (I grabbed some rice balls and a few rice bales for out astral pouch. Kushi didn't notice, and out astral pouch was nearly filled) Susano got up as soon as he saw that we had sake.

"Hm? Hold it right there, Fido! That smell…is that Kushi's famous homebrewed sake?"

"Kinda creepy that he can tell simply by the smell of it…"

Ammy tossed him the jug. "F-F-Fido, my friend! Did you bring me some of Kushi's sake? Of, what a glorious day! Ah…good ol' sake! A man without a drink is like a warrior without his trusty sword! In fact, it is said that Nagi himself relied on the power of sake in his battle with the dreaded Orochi."

"It's sad that even a legendary hero can't fight without being drunk."

"Agreed."

"It's all so clear now! Let the training begin! I'll just try a bit of my usual routine. Okay, here I come!" Ammy and I took turns powerslashing the dummies that Susano attacked. He even went after a rock.

"Huh?" He gasped in shock when the rock was sliced in two. But he quickly regained his composure and ran off the entrance of the village. "Hiyaaaah!"

"After him! Quick!" Issun urged. Ammy and I didn't need to be told twice as we dashed off after the warrior. We got there just in time to see him begin his attack.

"Susano-style…Exploding Implosion!" He yelled as he jumped at the rock. With a swish of my tail, the boulder fell apart in two pieces.

"Th-th-that's amazing!" The merchant exclaimed. Susano was just staring at his sword with a bewildered look. "You sliced that huge rock clean in half! You really are something!"

Issun played along. "Wow! I didn't think ya could do it, pops!"

"Me either." Susano replied, then realized his mistake and coughed to cover it up. "Er…I mean, of course I could! After all, I am Susano, the greatest warrior ever!"

"You weren't just showing off when you said you're Nagi's Descendant! Someone like you'd have no problem righting off monsters, huh?" Susano started to sweat. "Well, anyways, thanks a lot. Now I can start doing business again."

"Did you say, m-m-monsters?" Susano stuttered. "Oh, uh…of course! No problem! This is a job for the most skilled warrior in all of Nippon! Yes! I shall rid these lands of their vile presence! Just sit back and watch the great Susano work his magic!" And then he ran off to Shinshu Field, cackling the entire way.

"He shouldn't get all puffed up. He's nothing without us." Issun commented. "Think he'll be okay?" The monsters outside the village are nasty."

"He'll be fine." I said. "People that cocky just never seem to die."

"True that."

"Ah…glorious Amaterasu…and Celia, too." We all turned around at the sound of Sakuya's voice. "What a pleasure to witness your heroic deeds! I am in awe. When you cleaved the boulder in two, my heart skipped a beat. To see both your skills with the brush is to be witness to great art."

Issun jumped off of Ammy's head. "Yeah? So do we get a reward or something, lady?"

"I hardly think your participation had any impact, little bug." She wasn't amused.

"It's Issun! Issun, Issun, Issun! Stop calling me a bug!" His aura was red. "I'll crawl back into your kimono if you say that again!"

Sakuya protected her chest with her arms. "My word!"

"Aw relax, lady. Furball here's more comfy anyway." Ammy turned her head slightly, trying to see Issun, who had jumped back onto her head a little earlier. But then he jumped onto the ground again. Make up your mind already!

"Let's get back to that reward thing you were talking about." Amaterasu squished Issun with her paw. "C'mon, Ammy. Put your paw up or something. Go on, shake!" I couldn't help but laugh.

"I must apologize." Sakuya started to speak again. "I would like to reward you, but I'm afraid I haven't the power. I can barely muster enough strength to make a flower bloom." She gestured to her tree. I finally noticed that it was completely bare. There were no pink petals, or even leaves for that matter, on it at all. It was a depressing sight. "Though my body stands firmly here within the confines of the village, my roots spread far and side, protecting the remote areas outside. These parts of me are known as guardian saplings. They collect the praise and adoration that gives me strength. The recent evil is eroding the guardian saplings…if this continues, I will wilt away as well, and my power will vanish. Worse yet, the dark power grows stronger with each passing day. Life as we know it will be consumed utterly in no time."

"That doesn't sound good…" I couldn't keep the worry out of my voice.

"Aw, man…this is getting' heavy." Issun agreed.

"Great and powerful Amaterasu and Celia! Could I be so bold as to request your assistance in rejuvenating these guardian saplings by lifting the curse that enslaves them?"

"We'll definitely help!" I barked.

"I shall mark the locations of nearby saplings on your map."

"Wait, we have a map?" I asked. Sakuya handed me a scroll, but I could only stare at it. Wolf. No hands.

"Here, I'll take it." Issun grabbed the scroll. It kinda made me wonder how he was actually able to hold the thing, considering he was a poncle.

"I have grown tired…I haven't even the strength to speak now. I hope that my request has not fallen on deaf ears…" No, just wolf ones. And tiny ones. "Amaterasu…Celia…may the fresh scent of flowers protect you always!" She said, then disappeared.

"Bah…I'm always itchin' for a good fight, but…I sure don't wanna poke my nose into this mess!" I heard Issun talking to himself. I just sat there and listened. "Still, I'm stuck with Furball and Fluffy here until I get all the brush skills…" Ammy yawned and sat up. I suddenly felt jealous that she got sleep and I didn't. But I didn't have long to think about that, because Issun jumped on Ammy's nose and started to talk again. "Anyway, Ammy's a god and all…what could possibly go wrong? Furball, were you listening to her? You two can get the rest of the brush techniques to save the world, and I'll learn 'em! Yeah, that's the ticket!" I rolled my eyes. "At any rate, let's start by following these marks on the map."

"Okay!" Ammy barked.

"Wait!" Amaterasu looked back at me.

"What now, Silver? We should get going!" Issun said impatiently.

_Hypocrite,_ I thought. "There are probably more animals in Kamiki to feed."

"Good point." Ammy looked over at the merchant. "Let's see if we can buy some feedbags."

4 sold treasures, 16 bought feedbags, one found exorcism slip s, 15 fed animals,(including Hayabusa)and 34 praise later…

"All right!"

"Let's go!"

"Shinshu field, here we come!"


	5. Author's note

Okay, it's been an entire week since i posted the last two chapters and i have had no reviews. Nada. I'm getting tired of this. I know that there are people reading this. It takes a minute to make a review. It's not that hard. So i'm putting this on hiatus until i get two more reviews. Just two more. I don't care if it's annonymous, I don't care what chapter, I don't care how long it is. Just make a review, please. I'm tired of spending my time making this story and no one giving me feedback. So until the little review counter thing says "reviews: 6", there will be no more chapters. I'm sorry i had to say this, but it had to happen. As soon as I get my two reviews, I will go back to updating this, I promise. Thank you for listening to my short rant.

-Pinkdesi101


	6. The start of the pretty

Wow...I got reviews faster than I thought i would. O.o And that encouraged me so much that i was able to type out another entire chapter.(Yay for encouragement XD)

Thanks to Greentabbycat and...whoever gave an annonymous review(XD)for, obviously, reviewing on my story. I'm glad to know that there are people reading my story. :)

And now, on with the chapter...after this short disclaimer.

Ammy: Desi does not own Okami in any way, shape or form. She _does_ own Celia, though.

Celia: don't remind me.

Chapter 4-The start of the pretty

The sight that greeted us wasn't that great…aw, who am I kidding? Shinshu Field was a complete disaster. Most of the place was covered in a cursed zone, and everywhere that wasn't was pretty much dead. No trees, no animals, and brown grass.

"Huh?" Issun gasped. "You probably know this already, but this here is Shinshu Field, the most beautiful field in Nippon. At least, it's supposed to be…but ever since that incident, I've been getting a bad vibe. We better watch where we're going. Just tell me if you wanna see the map and I'll show it to you. Let's pay attention to it as we push ahead." We didn't get that far before Issun stopped us. "Look, that's the guardian Sapling marked on our map!" I looked in the direction Issun was pointing Denkomaru and quickly spotted the tree. It looked like a smaller version of Sakuya's tree." It's supposed to be a place for travelers to rest and recuperate, but just look at it! It looks like it could fall over at any moment! This place is definitely cursed from the looks of it! Places where evil has taken hold, luring monsters from far and wide, are known as cursed zones. But I've never seen one this big before. It's withered all the plant life in the area, including that big tree! It'd take a monster with powers beyond even a god to do this!" He was quiet for a second. "That tree's an offshoot of Sakuya. It protects nature in the area. Maybe the natural beauty here would return if we revived it…but how the heck could we do that, anyway?"

"Maybe we should go check up on the other Guardian Sapling." I suggested. Hooray for playing through Okami before!

"That…actually isn't that bad of an idea, Silver."

"Thank you." I smiled.

"Um, guys. Sorry to interrupt your plans, but you might want to run!" Ammy said. I looked up to see a demon scroll coming towards us. Issun jumped onto my head and I ran away as fast as my legs would let me. It was a close call, but I got away.

"Oh jeez." I gasped. "What the heck."

"That was a demon scroll." Issun explained. "But I guess you already know what it is, judging by how fast you ran away."

"We're going to run into a lot more of these, aren't we?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah."

"Great." I said sarcastically.

So we ran across Shinshu Field, avoiding cursed zones and demon scrolls. Fun. We stopped when we came to a house. Nameless Man's house, I think. (Okay, which game designer came up with this dude's name? Seriously.)

"What just happened?" The nameless dude asked us. As if we'd know…okay, we slightly did, but that's besides the point. "I was out here chopping wood and communing with nature as usual, when I heard a loud rumbling like an earthquake from the lake. Then a huge gust of wind blew up out of nowhere. I don't know what happened next, but when I came to, it was like this. My art workshop was just across the stream there, but it up and vanished when this cursed zone appeared. The earth must be angry. All I want is to live in peace, man. But now I can't. I noticed a figure running from the lake toward Kamiki. Whoever it was, man, I hope mother earth kept them safe." He was about to go back to work, but I barked at him. "What's up, nature buddy? Curious about that cave? It's the entrance to a place called Hana Valley, the site of an amazing waterfall. But monsters have moved in now. There's a trippy crystal ball that makes plants grow enshrined there. You'd think gardeners would be flocking here for it! Actually, not long ago that Susano guy went marching in there. It's weird. Normally, he runs away at the sight of monsters. And he hardly seems the type to try his hand at gardening. Anyway, it's bad karma, man. You could be attacked if you went in."

"So we're going in, right?"

"Yup." Amaterasu led the way. But I stopped for a second and looked back at Nameless Man.

"Hey, Issun!" He came back.

"Yeah, Silver? This better be good." I whispered something to him. "…you can't be serious. You wasted my time for that?"

"Please!" I gave him puppy dog eyes.

"…fine." He bounced back to Nameless man, talked for a minute, and came back. "Bob. His name is Bob. Are you happy now?"

"Thanks, Issun!"

"Don't mention it. Seriously. Don't." He jumped on my muzzle. "Now hurry up, we need to catch up to Ammy!" I obeyed, running after my friend. She was waiting for us near an origin mirror.

"What took you two so long?" Ammy asked.

"Silver here wanted to know that nature dude's name." Issun said in an annoyed manner as he jumped onto Ammy's head. I gave Ammy a sheepish smile. She just sighed, but I saw an amused glimmer in her eyes. While she turned around and started to walk up the path, I looked over at the stream that was next to me. The water looked really gross, like a cross between mud and tar. And I stupidly decided to poke my paw into it for reasons I still can't figure out to this day.

"Bleh!" I tried to shake it off my paw. "This is so gross!" The stuff refused to come off no matter how hard I shook. I gave a small whimper.

"You've gotta be kidding me, Silver." Issun groaned when he saw me. "Why'd you put your paw in there in the first place?"

"I don't know, okay?" My ears were pressed against my head and my tail was between my legs. So that's how wolves show embarrassment…

"It'll come off eventually." Ammy told me. I nodded, and we continued along the path. My paw stuck to the ground and slowed us down a bit, but Ammy didn't seem to mind. We opened a chest with a traveler's charm inside, and then crossed a bridge to find some drunk imps dancing around a fire. Once we got close, they noticed us and the battle commenced. Amaterasu took the red imps and I got the green ones, since I was handicapped at the moment. I killed off the first two with no problems, but then the third imp hit my leg. The one that wasn't covered in goop. I had to keep my weight off It, but that meant I had to walk on the muddy paw, which constantly stuck to the ground. It didn't take me too long to kill the green imp, but I could've done better.(okay, I used powerslash to help. Sue me.) At least I got the floral finisher for all of them…right?

After the fight ended, the area to the left of us was restored. The water started to clear up and a small island appeared in the middle of it…but then a black mist came over it and it went back to how it was before. Darn, I was looking forward to some praise.

"Huh?" Issun stared at the area. Or at least, I assume he was staring. "We got rid of the monsters, so why did the gods' power disappear? Guess the curse on the gods is really strong here. They can't intervene till we do something about this stagnant air."

"We have to do everything, don't we?" I sighed.

"Seems like it." Ammy confirmed.

"Let's just get goin' already. I really can't stand this atmosphere." Issun complained. So we broke to pots, found a fish feedback, walked through a cave, sneezed, and broke two torches before our next significant interruption.

"Hey, check out that tree! It's moving!"

"That's not right." I shuddered.

Apparently the tree took that as an insult, because it threw a flaming fruit at me as soon as I said that. I braced myself to get hit…but I never felt any pain. Instead, when I opened my eyes, the tree was knocked out.

"Ammy! Did you just do what I think you did?" Issun asked in amazement.

"Wait, what did she do?" I was still in a slight state of shock.

"Did you powerslash to hit the tree's fruit right back at it?"

"You did what?" I was jaw dropping. Ammy gave me a small smile.

"Heh heh…" Issun chuckled. "Looks like it's wearing a taste of it's own medicine! Let's pass on by this creepy old tree while we can!"

"I like that idea!" I said. I tried to make a run for it on three legs, but it didn't work very well considering I was limping from the time that imp attacked me. My leg was still hurting quite a bit, and sprinting didn't help it at all. Ammy powerslashed any fruit that was headed towards us while we followed the path. I took a while getting across a wooden bridge, which earned me an annoyed comment from Issun and another minute of embarrassment, but Ammy seemed really patient with me. I felt really, really bad that I was slowing her and Issun down so much.

Once we finally made it past all the creepy trees, we came to a giant mural with red goop on it. Of course, we didn't have time to admire the pretty picture for long, because some imps showed up. And guess what? The green imps found a new friend, the yellow imp!

Ammy and I quickly dispatched the green imps while the yellow was still underground. Remembering the tactic I always used before I got cherry bomb, I started running in circles.

"What the heck are you doing?" Issun asked.

"This'll confuse it when it comes to the surface." I explained. Ammy nodded and started to do the same. When the imp came up, it didn't see either of us. I took the chance to powerslash it. The imp came flying out of the ground and landed with a thud. Ammy and I attacked him with our weapons until he got up and launched a bomb at us. We both dodged to separate sides, almost like it was planned, and finished the imp off. Ammy even got the floral finisher. I grabbed a spirit globe s that the imp dropped and it healed my leg completely. Now I'd be able to move slightly faster. That was a plus.

I saw a giant flash of yellow light come from the mural and when I looked back at it, the goop was gone. It made it look a lot less creepy. Amaterasu and I spotted Susano at the other side of the room, so we decided to say hi. As soon as we were behind him he turned around.

"Hm? What's all that racket?" Ammy's tail was wagging again. "Oh, it's you, Fido. And you two, Lassie. What're you two doing here?"

"Ahem, three." Issun put in.

"Well, all of you, go home! I already told you I'm not looking for apprentices. Anyway, Hana Valley is no place for mutts, or bugs, like you."

"I'm not a bug, gosh dangit!"

"Beyond this point lies my secret training ground. It's the perfect place to hide-"

I swear, I heard a record scratch there. Ammy and I gave him weird looks.

"Er…I mean, to train!" Susano tried to cover up his mistake.

"Too late now, buddy. We know you're going to hide." I said.

Susano just tried to hit us with his sword. "Now, scoot! Be off with you!"

"Rude much?" I complained.

"We did help him cut that rock…" Ammy trailed. "But then again, he doesn't know that."

I sighed. "I guess you're right. But still, does he have to go and attack us? To him, we're just a couple of normal wolves. What the heck does he have against animals?"

"Hey, you two, check out this wall painting." Ammy and I actually listened to Issun for once and walked up to the painting. It looked pretty cool without the goop. "It's said that a crystal sphere that makes trees grow is enshrined somewhere around here. Based on this painting here, I'd say the rumor must be true. Still, something's not right. Don't you think there's something missing from this painting? Wait…I know! The sun! That's what's missing! Doesn't it just make you wanna draw it in yourself?"

"Yeah." I said, looking up at the painting. Then I glanced at Amaterasu. "So…you wanna make it this time?"

"Sure." Amaterasu gave me an appreciative smile, then waved her tail in a circle. In the next second, the sun was in the painting. The ground started to shake, and with yet another burst of yellow light, a tunnel was revealed.

"What in heaven's name?" Susano gaped at the new pathway. "How did that happen? Well, now I can go hide-" Another record scratch and a cough from Susano. "Er…I mean, now I can go train."

"Suuure…" Ammy, Issun, and I said at the same time. Sadly, Susano ran off before any more sarcastic comments could be made. Too bad, I'm sure Issun and I could've come up with 50 more.

We walked along the narrow path, making sure not to touch the muddy water. (In case you're wondering, yes, I was still hobbling on 3 legs) I decided to start a conversation while we traveled to pass the time.

"Why do you wag your tail whenever we see Susano?" I asked Ammy.

"Huh? Oh. Well…" She thought for a second. "You've gotta admit, he's comical."

"Like someone straight out of a video game." I said without thinking.

"A what?"

"Oh…a video game. It's a type of invention in my world…" She still gave me a confused look. "It's not important. Just forget it." I sighed. Stupid me. Why? Why did Okami take place in ancient Japan? Why couldn't it take place in modern Japan? Oh wait…they're still getting over the earthquake and tsunami, aren't they?...riiight…

Bu the time that conversation was over, we came to the room with the Guardian Sapling!

…where the Guardian Sapling was _supposed_ to be, anyways. In its place was a tiny, green plant.

"What a strange place." Issun commented. "Is this really the secret training ground Susano mentioned? Speaking of which, where'd pops go, anyway?"

"Does this have any clues?" I asked, walking over to a wooden sign. It had kanji on it, but strangely enough, I could understand it. It said 'Sacred Tree Cherry Cascade.'

"I haven't seen anything remotely like a sacred tree around here." Issun complained.

"Do you two want to stay here, or come with me to see what's in this cave?" Amaterasu was sitting at the entrance of a cave to our left.

"Heck yeah!" I quickly dashed into the cave, with Amaterasu following closely behind. I ran across the origin mirror, just in case. Even though I knew nothing dangerous was ahead.

Guess who was in the next room?

Susano.

Guess what he was doing?

Something stupid.

I'll give a cookie to whoever guessed both answers correctly.

"Rawrrr!"

"What now?" Issun groaned.

"You…you foul beast! How dare you get in here?"

"Susano, that's a freaking _bear_." I couldn't help but point out, even though he couldn't understand me.

"You have some nerve sneaking into my private training ground. Now you shall get a taste of my new secret technique!"

"Your 'foul beast' looks like an ordinary sleeping bear to me, pops." Issun said.

"Thank you!" I barked.

"Enough talk! My blade thirsts for battle! Here goes nothing! Susano-Style SUSANO!" He went across the room, attacking all the torches and yelling out his name at the same time. Who knew he could multi-task? Gasp! Ammy and I took turns powerslashing the torches, as always.

"Now for Susano-Style Exploding Implosion!" Issun actually did this one, powerslashing the bear at the exact same time Susano did. The bear woke up, rubbed it's eyes, fell of the ball it was standing on, and promptly fell to sleep again.

"Hm?" Susano started laughing. "That'll teach you, you foolish beast! You're no match for my new secret technique!" I could tell Issun was not amused. Ammy stared at Susano. He put his sword on his back, then coughed. "Um…uh…rest in peace, foul beast. The Great Warrior Susano condemns the offense, not the offender."

"What was his offense? Sleeping? In that case, you should've gotten the death penalty by now." I growled out of annoyance. Susano was comical, yes, but his antics got old after a while. And I happen to have a short temper sometimes.

"Anyway, there are other monsters I must deal with!"

What did he do next?

He ran off laughing.

A giant, frosted sugar cookie with sprinkles for those who guessed that one right!

Ammy's ears twitched. I felt mine twitch, too. Sign of annoyance in a wolf? We'll wait and see.

After we got over that…strange encounter…Ammy and I pushed the crystal sphere out of the room with the Guardian Sapling. Strangely enough, it didn't weigh much. My muddy paw and I were thankful for that.

"Ten thousand yen says the ball goes in that little puddle of water." I wagered.

"We only have 7000 yen." Issun pointed out.

"We'll get more later." I dismissed the fact.

"Let's just get it up there." After an epic fail or two, we finally managed to roll the sphere into the puddle. The water started to rise like a fountain, holding the crystal up.

"Wow, someone had a lot of time on their hands to thin this up." Issun complimented. "So this _was _that sphere in that wall painting! I bet this sphere here is magic or something!"

"Now we're missing what the picture needed…" I trailed.

"Well, it's your turn." Amaterasu said. I nodded, then used sunrise.

The sun shined on the crystal sphere, which in turn shot the light onto the plant. The plant then grew into a Guardian Sapling, like the one in Shinshu Field.

"Hey, is this a guardian sapling?" Issun stared at the giant tree.(again, I only presume.) "It's all withered like the others…" The sky went dark, and starlight shined down onto us. "What the? Who turned out the lights? Oh…it's another constellation!"

Amaterasu painted in one dot and I made the other. A monkey came out of the constellation and spun while it floated down to us. The scenery changed to the golden landscape that we'd seen twice before. When the brush god landed, Amaterasu was looking around in an uninterested manner. I, on the other hand, was examining the monkey. Sadly, all I could notice was that he was holding an instrument(couldn't figure out what kind)before he began talking.

"Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…my gratitude for releasing my body from its slumber. Please accept my humble thanks in return for your great kindness. I am Sakigami, one of the triumvirate of flora gods known as the Hanagami. My brethren and I have been entrusted with the brush techniques known collectively as greensprout. I now grant my humble power to you. Use it wisely." We got our brush technique, and then we were back in Hana Valley.

"Hey, that was Sakigami, one of the gods of flora!" Issun restated. "Apparently, the bloom brush technique can make flowers blossom simply by drawing a circle on a withered tree."

"Yeah, hence the name, bloom."

"Maybe it'll make the withered Guardian Sapling blossom, too!"

"Well, there's only one way to find out!" I said, drawing a circle with my tail around the tree. It immediately burst into pink petals, and then the area around it began to be revived. I really wished I was watching the actual game so I could see the same thing happen to the entire area. But oh well. At least we got 30 praise in the process! (by now you can probably tell I'm obsessed with praise, huh?)

"Wow!" Issun exclaimed. "Look at how everything grew back so quick! Sakuya wasn't kidding about the power of the guardian saplings! So this is what Hana Valley's supposed to look like…"

"I officially wanna live here." I decided.

"I second that." Ammy added.

"Seems Sakuya's Guardian Sapling has lifted the evil curse. I'm not sure how weak the gods have become recently…but it must've taken some seriously strong power to suppress this magnificent guardian sapling. Even if you are Shiranui reborn…we might be up against more than we bargained for!"

"That's so comforting for me, a random human-turned-wolf to hear." I said sarcastically.

"Hey, Ammy, Silver…what about that withered Guardian Sapling outside? I bet you two could revive it like you did this one! And by bringing that guardian sapling back to life, we might be able to lift the curse there, too! What are we waiting for? Leap before you think, right?"

"I thought the saying was 'think before you leap'…" I trailed.

"Not for us!" I could vividly imagine Issun giving me a giant, carefree grin right then.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to die before this adventure is over?" I groaned.

"Stop being so negative! C'mon, let's go bloom the other trees in Hana Valley!" Issun was jumping on Ammy's head.

"Hey, I just realized…" I put my paw on the ground. "My paw is back to normal again!" I cheered and proceeded to run back the way we came. I skidded to a halt when a barrier signaling a fight came up. My nose was about an inch away from hitting the barrier. I turned around, and to my relief, Ammy had been right behind me, so she was also in the fight.

"Looks like we've got another fight on our hands!" Issun announced. Two more green imps and one more yellow imp appeared. Nothing too bad…except it took me and Ammy four tries to kill the yellow imp. "Nice goin' there." Issun said sarcastically once the fight was over.

"Well, I'm sorry that the imp kept spotting us!" I growled. While Issun and I were busy arguing, Ammy red some boars. Heck, I was so angry I didn't even notice the 24 praise we earned, even though we could upgrade something again. Ammy actually had to point it out to me. So we both got another unit of ink, leaving us with 7 praise.

Issun huffed in frustration when he saw that the possessed trees were still, well, possessed. "That creepy old tree just won't give up. I've got an idea, Ammy!" Oh, great. Back to the ignoring me. "Maybe you could hit its fruit right back at it!"

"Haven't we already done that?" I questioned.

"I'm not finished!" Issun snapped. "While it's stunned, you could use bloom to rid it of evil." Ammy did as Issun suggested, and the tree turned into a beautiful cherry tree.

_Cool,_ I almost said, but then stopped myself. If Issun was going to ignore me, then I would compliment his ideas.

"Whoa, Ammy. Hold on!" We both stopped before a patch of dead grass, complete with a creepy cow skull. "Hana Valley looks so much better now, but…what about this gloomy patch of grass?"

I didn't want to give him credit for any more great ideas, so before he could say anything I swished my tail over the grass like I was using rejuvenation, except it was bloom. The area became pretty again, and we even found a scroll.

"Show off." I heard Issun mutter, which made my day. Mission accomplished. He just decided to ignore me…even more? "There was a scroll here too, eh? Ammy, this looks like the travel guide! It's an ancient record of pilgrimage across the land. If this were the real thing, it'd normally be worth a fortune. But with all the copies out there, you probably wouldn't get much for it. At any rate, if you ever wanna read it, just ask me to read it to you. It may sound rather preachy, but it should at least help us in our travels."

"Can you read it to us now?" Ammy asked.

"Sure." Issun pulled out the scroll. "There are few places in this wide world where I have not set foot. My travels have granted my extensive knowledge. I have endeavored to record this knowledge in a series of scrolls. You can destroy things with a tackle. From a tackle, you can initiate a dash." Yup, that didn't sound like it came from a video game _at all!_ "Some obstacles can be leapt over by jumping." …do I really need to comment? On second thought, yes, I do. Thank you, Captain Obvious! "Gather your strength to jump to greater heights." Well, at least it didn't say press the A button. "Perform wall jumps by launching yourself off a wall when you contact it. Dashing and wall jumping will prove invaluable on your quest." Looks like someone's been chatting with Waka. "To succeed, you must always be fully aware of your surroundings. Make sure you check your map. Certain areas are inaccessible until you obtain a map." Again, sounds like a video game. "These tips should be of great importance to you on your quest. Righteous knowledge is the wellspring of righteous action. This is the true essence of any adventure."

"Fully aware of our surroundings…there's a possessed tree over there!" I pointed to it with my tail, then powerslashed a flaming fruit it threw at me and bloomed it.

"And there appears to be a secret behind it." Ammy wall-jumped onto a ledge, and I followed. "Hey, look! A glowing green spot! Let's dig it up!" A dead clover sprung out of the hold and floated in mid-air, completely defying physics.

"I have a feeling we should bloom it."

"Let us bloom it, then!" Ammy used said brush technique on the clover, and it came to life, awarding us with 5 praise.

"Okay, enough with the sarcastic, obvious tones, you two." Issun said. But y'know, he was starting to sound annoyed. And it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

"But it si most enjoyable to talk in this manner." I protested in the same tone of voice.

"Come, Celia. Let us continue forwards!" Ammy said.

"With pleasure, Amaterasu."

"Now you just sound too proper. And you've got weird accents."

"Oh, look! Another possessed tree! Do you want to bloom it, or shall I?"

"You can have the privilege this time."

"Thank you, Celia."

"You're quite welcome, Amaterasu."

"You are both annoying me to no end."

"Need I remind you that you are the one who chose to travel with us, Issun?"

"…I'm just going to shut my mouth right now."

"That is probably for the best."

"Amaterasu, did you know that we can bloom trees even though they are not possessed?"

"Why, no! I did not! But did you know that out astral pouch is now full?"

"It is? Glorious day!"

"We must celebrate!"

"Let us celebrate by blooming every tree in the valley!"

"That sounds like a marvelous idea!"

"Ow! I have been hit by a flaming fruit!"

"Ow! So have I!"

" We must be more vigilant and powerslash before-ow!"

"Don't worry, I have now bloomed the tree."

"Thank heavens! And that was the last possessed one, too!"

"Now just to bloom the normal ones."

"What fun! And, oh, look! A buried treasure chest!"

"What is inside, Celia?"

"Why, it's a stray bead!"

"I am afraid there are more urgent matters to attend to at the moment."

"Like what, Amaterasu?"

"The group of troublesome imps over there, of course!"

"Care to kick imp butt with me?"

"It would be my pleasure."

"Oh, look! The area has been revived!"

"And I have gotten more praise from feeding these adorable monkeys!"

"I, too, have earned some praise by blooming the rest of the trees in this area."

"Let us go over to that island with the treasure chest."

"The scroll I found inside this chest is labeled digging tips."

"Quite a useless scroll, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes, yes. Quite. Digging is part of a wolf's instincts, after all."

"I have just dug up a clover. Case and point."

"Would you like to bloom it?"

"Why thank you, Amaterasu!"

"And look! I see another clover over there!"

"You may dig it up and bloom it this time, if you wish."

"I shall do so, then."

"Hey, if you two are done being all formal, I have a feeling that there's a treasure for blooming all the trees."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" I barked enthusiastically and ran off to go get the treasure.

"Wait for me!" Ammy called as she followed.

"Heh heh. Told ya." Issun said proudly as we walked up to a treasure chest.

"Issun, be honest. Are you one of those people who can see the future?"

"Nah, I'm just one of those people who are naturally awesome."

"Sure, Issun. Suuuure…"

"What is this?" Ammy asked as she sniffed at what came out of the chest. It was a green stone that looked as if it had been cut into a third.

"That, my furry friends, would be a sun fragment. It'll increase your solar units but one if you collect all three of 'em." He received two blank stares. "Get three of these, become stronger."

"Oooooooh." I think I saw Issun face/palm at us. I honestly didn't know how he was going to survive a week, let alone an entire journey, with us.

Issun: I hate you both.

Celia: Love you too, Issun. *sarcasm*

Oh, and a random fact for you all. the word Hanagami on the spell check came out as hang man. XD i nearly fell out of my chair laughing when i saw that.

And I've got nothing else to say really, other than read and review!


	7. Giant bombs and strange dreams

Would you all believe me if I told you this chapter is over 7,000 words? 'cuz it is. That makes up for taking a while to get this up, right? *shot* but seriously, I _do _have a valid reason(or, i think it's a valid reason)for taking so long to get this chapter up. I was on vacation for a week. Had I known that I'd actually have computer access for those six days, I would've brought my notebooks and typed this chapter out. And then right after that, I had to go to my dad's house. He doesn't have a computer. Although I _did_ spend that time writing more chapters out. That's good...right? XD

Okay, anyways. Thanks to Greentabbycat(Tabitha included), Koori Shirayuki, MetaloGuy, Metaniterocks,(Jenna included) and Kooples12 for reviewing! You're all awesome people. Here's a cookie. *hands out cookies* ^^

Disclaimer, please? Someone? Anyone?

*everyone is quiet*

Okay, fine. Be stubborn little characters. I'll do it. I do not own Okami, bombs, dreams, or cookies. Okami belongs to Capcom, bombs belong to whoever the heck invented them, dreams belong to nature, and cookies belong to some random cook i'm too lazy to google and figure out who made them. So, yeah. Although I _do _own Celia.

Chapter 5-Giant bombs and wierd dreams

"That's one more brush technique in the bag!" Issun announced once we had gotten back to Shinshu field. "Now Ammy, Silver…before you both get all excited and forget what you're supposed to do, I have an important tip. Ready? Okay then…If you ever forget what to do next, just ask me. I've got a really great memory, believe it or not."

"Not." I said. I'm pretty sure Issun was glaring at me.

"Also, remember, first things first! Okay, let's get going!"

"Wait, I wanna talk to Bob!" I ran over to said person. "Hi, Bob!" I barked.

"Freaky…it looks like the river suddenly cleared up." He told me. "I did see Susano whizzing past here a little while ago…but surely it wasn't him who cleared up the river, was it? Nah…that wouldn't make any sense."

"Okay, that was pointless." I said in a defeated tone was I walked up to Ammy and Issun, who were waiting for me by the guardian sapling.

"So, are we gonna bloom this thing, or what?" Issun asked in an impatient tone. Amaterasu used bloom on the tree, and then the magic happened. Like last time, the tree burst into petals. But this time, we were able to see most of the area restored. The cursed zone fell back as the grass turned green in a wave of flowers. The clean water flowed into the muddy goop, somehow clearing it up instantly. It was a really beautiful sight.

"Wow! That nasty cursed zone is completely gone! The plants and animals are back! And just feel that fresh breeze! Now that's what I call a great divine intervention! If you two keep on dispelling the evil curse like this, I bet the gods of nature will lend you their powers!"

I looked over in the direction of Konahana, which was visible from Shinshu Field. It started to grow taller, and leaves started to grow on it. It looked a lot healthier. It didn't have any flowers, granted, but still, green tree is better than dead-lookin' tree.

"Hey, that's…that's Sakuya's tree, isn't it?" Issun asked. No, It's a Guardian Sapling, Issun. "Maybe she perked up 'cause you revived a Guardian Sapling? Well, we can stop by and see her later. I mean, we're kinda on a roll here. How about we take a look around Shinshu Field first? You've been gone 100 years, right?"

"I've never been here in my life." I pointed out.

"Well then, a good run around the place will do you both good!"

"Treasure chest!" I yelled and opened up a chest that was right in front of me, getting a scroll about fleeing battle in the process. Ammy went behind the tree and came back with a traveler's charm. "Okay, where to first?"

"Let's just take a run around the place real quick. We can visit the landmarks afterwards."

"Sounds good to me." Ammy agreed.

So we went along the main path, just helping people out and just doing all the stuff we could to get praise. Like blooming patches of dead grass, feeding some boars, finding a meat feedbag, going through a demon gate,(like a demon scroll, but it gives you praise and rejuvenates the land after the fight is over)feeding bunnies, finding an herb feedbag, meeting a mailman named Ida, giving Ida a traveler's charm so he could get back to work, going through another demon gate, failing at fighting a yellow imp yet again, and lots of other things. Long story short, we did a lotta crap and got 119 praise in the process.

"Okay, now let's go to Tama's house." Issun suggested.

"And that would be…" Oh, right. Ammy didn't know where anything was in Shinshu Field.

"We need to backtrack until we get to the second bridge. Then go down it, and we should see it." Ammy nodded, but looked a bit unsure.

"I'll take the lead, if you want." I offered. Ammy gave me a look of appreciation. So I followed Issun's now useless instructions over to Tama's house. Of course, we had to be stopped 10 feet away from our destination by two green imps and a dead fish. I actually forgot about that one…

"Just powerslash it 'til it dies." Issun told us. I obeyed, since I wasn't in the mood to be exploded, no matter how pretty demon fangs were. Hey, at least we got some from the other two green imps. That's good enough for me.

"Sleeping like a log. Come back at night." Ammy read the paper on the door.

"Y'know, that doesn't sound like that bad of an idea." I yawned. I'd forgotten how tired I was, but I'd been awake for at least 24 hours.

"Let's just sleep out here while we're waiting." Ammy laid down near the door, with Issun falling to sleep on her head. I laid next to Ammy and was out in about a minute or two.

* * *

><p>I yawned and blinked a few times. There was an annoying light above me. I wanted to sleep more, dangit. A few minutes later it actually registered with me that it was nighttime. There shouldn't have been light. I looked closer and noticed that the lights were actually sparklers. Pretty.<p>

"Hey, Ammy. Issun. Wake up." I said. Ammy woke up almost instantly, whereas Issun took a while. AKA he fell off Ammy's head and still didn't wanna stop sleeping. "Can I eat him?" I asked. Ammy, to my surprise, nodded. But before I had the chance…

"Okay, okay! I'm up!" The poncle jumped up instantly and climbed back onto Ammy's head, his favorite perch.

"Playing possum, I see?" I rolled my eyes.

"No. Normally when I hear the words 'eat him,' I wake up. Especially coming from _you._"

"That's probably for the best." I replied, then walked into Tama's house.

"Is that a threat?" Issun asked as Ammy followed me inside.

"No. Just a fact."

"I feel so safe now." I imagined Issun was rolling his eyes.

"Am I the only one that feels paranoid when surrounded by twenty bombs?" Ammy interrupted before I could reply to Issun.

"I just feel paranoid when Silver's around."

"And you should, poncle. You should."

"Stop it, you two!" Ammy gave us both disapproving looks. Or she gave one to me, anyways. Issun couldn't really see, as he was still on Ammy's head. My ears were flat against my head again. Stupid dang embarrassment.

"No, no, no!" We all looked over at Tama, who was talking to himself. "That can't be right…it shouldn't be doing that…no, no, no! I checked and double-checked my formula! No, no, no!"

"He sure likes to say the word 'no'."

"Hey!" Issun piped up. "You there, got a minute?"

Tama turned around. "Hm? Whoa! What's this little wisp doing here?"

"Yet he ignores the two wolves standing in front of him."

"Not like it's anything new to me."

"Hey, who are you callin' a wisp? I'm Issun the wandering artist!"

"Well, well, well. You're a little ball of fire, aren't you?" He stood up. "I'm Tama. Tama, the Flaming Pyrotechnist! That's what they call me!" Aaand he sat down again. "Listen up, you three. I'm just about to set off a hum-dinger of a doozy. Take a look at the formula I posted on the wall there. My whole career as a Pyrotechnist has led to that formula, friends." It was a picture of a bomb. A very simple picture of a bomb. A circle with a line through it. Yeah, I know. Not that impressive, huh?

"That's actually pretty sad."

"Let's hope he's only been a pyrotechnist for a day, then."

Tama just continued talking. "It's for a little firework I've dubbed the Midnight Wonder Boy!"

"Heh heh…" Issun chuckled.

"Issun! Get your head out of the gutter!" I yelled. Ammy proceeded to eat him. So by the time Tama was finished talking, Issun was covered in spit and lying on the ground.

"There's only one problem…even though I know the formula is sound, it's not working right yet. I know! Listen, pups. You've got good eyes. Fiery eyes…smoldering eyes…maybe your red-hot glares are just what I need to set this off!"

"And by what logic is that?"

"The logic of a person who has been a pyrotechnist for an entire day."

"Oh, yeah."

"Feast your eyes on the greatest display the world has ever seen!" Tama jumped up again. "Hold onto your hats, kids! Here I go! The brightest constellation in the sky-the Midnight Wonder Boy!" Then he made some weird noises, threw explosives into a bowl, and Ammy instinctively drew the formula over the bowl, creating a giant cherry bomb. We dashed outside to see the fireworks. (Issun jumped on Ammy's head just before we were out the door) Ammy was jumping on her hind legs and pawing at the air, so I thought _what the heck?_ and did the same.

"Holy smokes!" Issun exclaimed. "That Tama may have some screws loose…"

"_A lot_ of screws loose."

"…yeah, but boy, can he deliver!" Starlight started to shine on us. "Hm? That light again…"

"Brush technique time!" I cheered. Sadly, the constellation looked so much like the big dipper that I couldn't figure out where to put the dots. Luckily, Ammy filled them both in for me. This time a boar rolled down to us on a bomb. Bakugami, if my memory was correct. Four boar piglets with torches in their mouths chased after him. One actually managed to light the fuse. Bakugami, however, managed to put the flame out just in time. Then all the boars turned to face us, all rivalries forgotten at the moment.

"Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…too often, it is easy to forget what we cannot see."

"Like Issun?"

"Hey!"

"Hidden away, I had lost track of you. But now my soul is at ease. I, Bakugami," Called it. "god of explosive force, lend my power to your cause. Use the cherry bomb to lay waste to foes and obstacles alike!" And then the piglets attacked again, Bakugami rolled away, the piglets followed, an explosion was heard, and the power of cherry bomb simply rolled into us. I would've laughed if it wasn't so sad.

"Hey, did another brush technique just come back to you?" Issun asked Ammy. "That was Bakugami, god of explosions. His technique is called cherry bomb. Tama's enthusiasm must've awakened the god's power in you! Well, what're ya waitin' for? Let's give that cherry bomb a try! How about that cracked wall over there? Why don't you try a cherry bomb on it? Just be careful…" He gulped. I drew a cherry bomb, and it instantly exploded when it came in contact with the wall. "Whoa, look at that hole! It blasted the cracked wall to smithereens! That cherry bomb is one destructive technique! I mean, just think of what it could do to monsters! It'll be tricky handling something that powerful! But I bet we'll be using it all the time once we master it!"

"What's inside the cave?" I called to Ammy, who had gone inside.

"A treasure chest!" I heard Issun yell excitedly.

"Rat statue." Ammy said, being much more helpful. Then we went over to the dojo, another place Issun wanted to visit.

"What?" Issun gasped as soon as we got close. "That's not right!"

"Calm down, Issun." I said in an unamused tone. "It's just a demon gate."

"But it's in front of a dojo! It's just not right!"

"Maybe the person inside is too busy to handle it now."

Ammy sided with me. "We _did_ just recently get rid of the cursed zone. And if I remember right, the dojo was in it."

"Fine. Let's just get rid of it already." Issun mumbled. Wow, Issun not enthusiastic about kicking imp butt? There was something seriously wrong with that. I guess he just didn't want to be proved wrong. And I've said it before, but I'll say it again-I had no idea how he would survive being with me and Ammy until the end of the adventure.

It was nice to not have to run around to try to kill a yellow imp. We just waited until it came out of the ground, preparing to cherry bomb it…except for the one minor detail that it didn't even spot us. So we just settled for powerslashing it. Meh. Not as fun, but we did get the floral finisher. Three green imps were next. It took me and Ammy 20 seconds at most to finish them all off. All with floral finishers, I might add. But right when we thought it was over, yet another yellow imp appeared.

"Yay!" I cheered. "Another chance to use cherry bomb!" Unfortunately for me, _Issun_ was the first one to use it. Issun. The one who rarely helps. I just sighed and powerslashed the stunned imp, Ammy ran up and hit it with divine retribution twice, and Issun helped out again and did the floral finisher for it. The barrier went down, a pool of water appeared, and 15 more praise was awarded to us. Issun pointed out that we could upgrade another attribute, so we did. Guess which one we choose!

If you guessed solar energy, try again.

If you guessed purse, then you don't know me and Ammy that well. We're not that girly.

If you guessed the astral pouch, then you need to pay attention more, because we only had 234 praise, and 300 is needed to upgrade that.

If you guessed ink, then you are either awesome, or you've caught on that Ammy and I really like ink!

Anyways…back to the actual story…

"Huh?" Issun stared at the building like it just appeared out of thin air. "What a pretentious sign! Ammy, Silver, this here's a dojo!"

"Yes, Issun, we sort of figured it out the last time you called it that." I said sarcastically, most likely earning me a tiny glare.

"This is where people come to learn sword fighting and martial arts." I decided to keep my sarcastic comments to myself for once. "But who knows if they'll train you two here…maybe if you act like good wolfies, they'll teach ya a trick or two!...sorry, Silver, but I don't think you'll be learning any battle moves, though."

"Hey!" I growled.

"Karma!" He said in a sing-song voice. Oh, how I wanted to eat him at that moment. But I doubted Ammy would let me, and it would only help to prove Issun's case.

"Stupid freaking bug." I muttered as I walked into the building. But my mood was lifted a little at the thought of learning some new battle moves. So I just had to act like a cute wolf and the sensei would teach me something…"Hello, old man!" I barked.

"Don't call him that!" Issun hissed quietly. "That's the Onigiri Sensei, and he runs the place! If he can understand wolf, I bet he won't teach you and Ammy anything now!"

"Well, what do we have here?" The sensei asked upon seeing us. "It looks like I have two adorable lupine visitors! My name is Onigiri Sensei and this is my dojo." Hooray for redundancy!...not. "What business could two wolves like yourselves have at a dojo like this? Certainly you haven't come to study the fighting arts with yours truly! A place like this is no place for play, friends. You should go outside where it is far less dangerous."

"It's a lot more dangerous out there than in here." Issun pointed out. But the old man didn't reply and just ignored us.

"Wait, what's this?" Ammy followed me over to the wall, where there was a sign.

"I guess these are all the moves he can teach us." She said.

"Fleetfoot." I read aloud. "Gracefully move out of harm's way. 10,000 yen."

"Can't you already do that? Sounds like a waste of yen to me." Issun was bouncing on the ground in front of me and Ammy. I just went to the next one. "Four winds. Add a fourth hit to your standard reflector attack combo. 5,000 yen." Yep, that didn't sound cheesy and video-game related at all!

"It could be useful…" Ammy trailed, and I nodded.

"Spirit storm. Increase the rate of attack for rosaries. 7,000 yen."

"What're rosaries?" Issun asked. Wait, shouldn't he know that? He's the character that's supposed to know everything!

"I guess we'll find out later on." Ammy saved Issun from a sarcastic comment from me.

"Golden fury. Insult foes and get demon fangs. That sound cool!"

"Yeah, except for the fact that it's 100,000 yen, Silver."

"How much money do we have?"

"You'd need to upgrade your purse to have that much."

"…darn."

"And we've only got 18,000 yen anyways."

"Let's get four winds, then. We'll still have 13,000 left over." Ammy said.

"The lucky number." I muttered sarcastically as I gave the Onigiri Sensei 5,000 yen. He jumped in surprise.

"I'll be a monkey's uncle! You've got the cash, have you?"

"Yup."

"I see…I suppose I have no choice. I'll do as you wish and enroll both of you in my dojo."

"Yay!" We all cheered.

"Aaaaaaah…Ooooh!" The Onigiri sensei…well, that's not exactly something you'd really, say, but…

"Anyone else get the feeling he's gonna do something weird?"

"Yep."

"Well, Tama was making strange noises, too."

"True…"

Onigiri Sensei's head started to spin. Then he was on fire for a few seconds while doing some weird battle poses.

"Someone call an exorcist!

"Someone call the fire department!"

"Somebody call nine-one-one…"

"Seriously?"

"Waaaah…" Onigiri Sensei was back to making weird noises, apparently. But he finally cut it out with the gibberish and talked normally. "Are you mentally prepared to handle the ultimate challenge? Step inside to test your might…" The doors behind him automatically opened.

"Uhhh…" I just stared.

"Does your fear cause you to hesitate? Step inside and let the training begin." He told us.

"Alright, let's go!" I barked, feeling slightly insulted. No way I was backing out of a _training session. _

The Onigiri Sensei was waiting inside for us. How that was possible, I really have no clue. "Let the lesson begin! We'll practice the four winds reflector technique. Take these tips to heart and remember them as we train." He tossed us a scroll, which Issun grabbed.

"Four winds reflector technique tips." He read. "First, throw your reflector at an enemy to begin the attack…repeat this rapidly in succession. Time it well. Keep this up until you connect four consecutive reflector hits. This combo makes short work of enemies and looks good, too!"

"Well? Did you understand?" Ammy and I both nodded. "Ah…very well, then…I'll grant you this technique scroll. Check it when you forget what it means to be a warrior. Understand it with your body as well as your mind. En garde! A dummy came out of the floor, and Ammy didn't hesitate at all to hit it four times in a row.

"How was that?" She asked me.

"Awesome!" I told her.

"Hm…not bad! Keep it up!" Onigiri Sensei commented. Ammy stepped to the side to let me try. I lunged at the dummy, quickly hitting it four times. I glanced at the Onigiri Sensei. "Not quite…put more energy into it!" He said.

"You want more energy?" I growled, attacking the dummy again. But the sensei just shook his head with a disappointed look on his face. "Is that all the strength you can muster?" My ears were pressed flat against my head. I looked over at Ammy, a probably pathetic-looking expression on my face.

"That's all right. Just keep trying." Her voice was gentle, and it calmed me down a bit. "Here, let me show you again." She repeated exactly what she did before effortlessly. I watched carefully. Maybe that was my problem…I was trying to hard. I came at the dummy once more, this time letting instinct tell me what to do.

"Yes! Let your warrior's spirit burn bright!" I heard Onigiri Sensei say.(try saying that five times fast)I smiled and attacked again, starting to enjoy the training. "That's enough for now!" Ammy and I both turned towards the sensei. "Very impressive. You have both shown me your warrior spirits! You mustn't neglect that spirit. Train it every day to keep it strong. You may go now. Show those foul creatures the true nature of the warrior!" He tossed us a holy bone m, which Issun grabbed for safe keeping.

"All right, let's go!" He said. Ammy and I fed some pigs outside of the dojo and dug up a chest behind it(with a stray bead inside)before leaving.

"Waaaait…" I stopped us just as we crossed the small bridge that went over a pond. "Where are we supposed to go next?"

"Follow the path, take a left at the fork in the road, and take a right down the hill." Going to see the Moon Shrine now? We followed the instructions, but instead of going into the Moon Shrine, we took another left at the bottom of the hill. "Where the heck are you two going?" Issun yelled at us. We just ignored him. When Ammy and I came to an area with a buried stray bead and two un-bloomed trees, he was speechless. "Wha-but…how did you…how could you…"

"I'm just one of those people who are naturally awesome." I used one of Issun's own quotes against him.

"Let's just get to the dang Moon Shrine already." He grumbled and bounced away. (Yup, not on Ammy's head for once. Gasp!)

"I just love to annoy him." I commented.

"Yes, I can see that." Ammy smiled, but then turned towards me. "You _do_ realize that's going to bite you in the butt sometime, right?"

"I'll enjoy it while I can."

Ammy rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. "Let's follow him in case he gets into trouble."

"Oh, great, another Susano is being born." We dashed off after the poncle.

"Took you long enough." Issun was sitting at the door. Or standing. Or lying down. Or doing push-ups. I couldn't tell. He's seriously just too dang tiny.

"We got here a second after you, bug." I growled.

"I thought we've been over the bug thing!"

"Yeah, well, now I'm starting to doubt your poncle story. I mean, you're as annoying as a mosquito, although you don't suck blood. And you can't fly." Issun's glow was red now. My ears were pressed against my head.(this time in anger, not embarrassment)

"Hypocrite. You're pretty annoying yourself, always slowing me and Ammy down. We'd already be halfway done with this adventure if you weren't here. Look at how much you slowed us down in Hana Valley. And now long it took you to learn one move at the dojo. Face it, you're useless." I didn't respond. Issun _did_ have a point. I was always slowing them down. They'd be in the Tsuta Ruins by now if I wasn't there. Maybe I _was_ just a nuisance.

"Issun!" Ammy growled. "That's enough!"

"Sure thing, mom." I heard him mutter.

"Tell her you're sorry."

"No." He was promptly eaten.

Ten minutes later…

"I'm still not sayin' it!" Issun yelled from inside Ammy's mouth. She finally gave up and spit him out and he jumped back onto her head.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it." Ammy told me.

"Yeah. Sure." I responded in a flat tone.

"Come on. Let's just go inside."

"You guys can go. I'll stay out here."

Ammy looked at me. "Celia, trust me. You're not slowing down anyone."

"No, it's fine. I want to stay out here. I like the fresh air." That was the most pathetic excuse I'd ever come up with in my entire life. And that's saying something. But Ammy knew I wouldn't change my mind, so she went in without me. But right before they were out of my sight, I heard Issun mutter "Ten more wasted minutes."

I sighed. Why did I have to be so useless? I knew Ammy and Issun were capable of finishing out adventure without me. Heck, it wasn't even my adventure. Was there a silver and purple wolf named Celia in Okami? No, there wasn't. I wasn't supposed to be there. What if I slowed Ammy and Issun down so much that, say, we wouldn't be ready to fight Orochi on the night of the full moon? Maybe we wouldn't be able to find all the canine warriors in time. We wouldn't get to the Gale Shrine, we wouldn't get galestorm, and we wouldn't be able to get through the Moon Cave. Kushi would be eaten by Orochi, and it'd be my fault. Then Orochi would take over Nippon. And I'd be the one to blame. I shuddered at the thought. Then I had an idea.

What if I left? If I wasn't traveling with Ammy and Issun? Then everything would be okay. They'd beat Orochi and any other bad guys that happen to want to take over or destroy Nippon, and everyone would live happily ever after. I'd probably be sent back to my world eventually. And even if I wasn't, I was a wolf. I'd be fine living on my own in the wild. But come to think of it, Ammy was a god…it wouldn't take her that long to find me.

Then I was suddenly aware of all the water around me. Maybe…no way. No. Not in a million years. But still…I didn't want to feel responsible if the people in Nippon ended up dead or worse. Ammy and Issun would understand. I had to. But just before I was going to jump, something stopped me.

I saw Ammy and Issun walk out of the shrine. But the weird thing is, I wasn't looking at them through my eyes. It was like a movie or something. And where I was standing before, there was no me.

"Hey, where's Silver?" Issun asked.

"Celia!" Amaterasu called. But there was no reply.

"Oh, jeez. Where did Fluffy go off to this time?" Issun groaned.

"Issun, this is serious." Ammy snapped.

"Okay, okay. Sorry. Sheesh."

"We have to find her." Ammy looked around the surrounding area and kept calling out my name, but I apparently was no where to be found. Finally, Issun spotted something.

"Ammy! Look!" He pointed Denkomaru out towards the water. Ammy looked that way and gasped. There was a silver wolf in the water, not moving.

"Oh Nuregami, no." Ammy jumped into the water and pulled the wolf to shore.

"S-Silver?" Issun bounced off Ammy's head and looked at the wolf. "C'mon, wake up." He poked her, but she didn't move.

"She's not breathing." Ammy put her paws on the wolf's chest and tried to get the water out of her lungs. She gave up after a minute or two. "It's not working."

Issun started to bounce against the wolf's chest. "You stupid wolf! Wake up!" But then he gave up, too.

"She's dead." Ammy said softly. Then the scene changed. Ammy was sitting in Kamiki, watching all the villagers. There were more than usual. I realized that it must be the festival. Despite all the fireworks and the cheerful atmosphere, Ammy was sitting back and silently watching, like she wasn't intending to join in the festivities.

_But it's the annual festival. She and Issun should be having fun…_ Then I realized something, or more specifically, someone was missing. _Where's Issun? _The setting once again changed, this time to Taka Pass. Ammy and Issun were walking away from the molsters with a teacup in tow. But Issun looked back and spotted something. A konahana blossom over a house. The thing that really interested him though was the treasure chest on the rooftop.

"Hey, Ammy. I'mma go get a treasure over there. I'll catch up."

"Don get yosef kiwd." The teacup in her jaws messed up her speech, but Issun understood what she said.

"Stop being so paranoid." A vine wrapped around the poncle and pulled him off Ammy's head. She didn't walk ten steps before she heard a tiny voice yell out.

"Ammy...help!"

"Issun!" Amaterasu dropped the teacup and ran to the voice of her friend. She skidded to a halt when she saw Mrs. Cutter squeezing Issun in her hand. The sun goddess lunged at the old lady, killing her quickly. Then she went over to Issun, who had been dropped onto the ground.

"A-Ammy…" He coughed. Amaterasu noticed that there was red in the poncle's green glow. Blood.

"Save your strength, Issun." She told him. He just snorted.

"What strength? I'm done, Furball." She let out a pathetic whimper. "Sorry, Ammy." He had a coughing fit. "Kick Orochi's butt for me…and Silver…okay?" Ammy gave a small nod. There were tears in her eyes. "Thanks, Furball." Then he stopped talking. I felt bad. Really bad. Had I been there, I could've stopped him from going to the Cutters' house. There was an overwhelming sadness washing over me. Issun's death was my fault.

Just as I heard Ammy let out a sad howl, the scene changed again. _What now? What couldn't possibly be worse than the three events I just saw?_ Ammy fell to the ground. There were huge, and I mean HUGE blades of grass all around her. But at least there was a pathway for her to follow. Which she did. A loud crunching noise came closer and closer until a giant foot stepped in front of her. A few more steps and she would've been a pancake.

"What the freaking crap?" If I had been there, I would've gasped. Did Ammy seriously just use the words 'freaking' and 'crap'? I mean, they weren't too bad, but this was Ammy. A goddess. It just wasn't right. After the foot left she growled in the direction it went in, but followed the trail. It split off, one way went left, one went right. A lockjaw blocked the left pathway, so she just took the right. She gave the giant spider hanging over the pathway a weary glance, but it didn't look like it wanted to hurt her, so she just kept walking.

But right when Ammy walked under it, the spider attacked. She yelped when one of the spider's fangs hit the wing-shaped thing on her shoulder. It knocked her off balance, and she fell to the ground. While she was still lying on her side, the spider attacked again, this time its fangs piercing her side. She dragged herself away before it could attack again, but there was a pretty big hole in her side, and she was loosing a lot of blood fast. She let out a pain-filled whimper before finally closing her eyes.

"No!" I yelled. Then I realized I was back at the Moon Shrine, alive and in my own body. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I noticed that I was standing right on the edge of the deck. I scooted away from it a little. Better yet, I decided to walk down the steps to actual land. But right when I set foot on the sand, a barrier appeared around me. "Seriously?" I asked. Two green imps and a red imp appeared. Except the red imp had a huge, glowing, confetti generating arrow stuck in its butt. It was actually pretty funny to look at.

"I am Toyo of short temper." The red imp announced. "Speak your last words, wolf!"

"Okay, um…it looks like you're crapping confetti." I barked. Apparently Mr. Confetti Crap didn't like my choice of words.

"You will die for saying that!"

"Yeah, I don't think so." I smirked and used my newly learned skill to quickly take care of Confetti Crapper. I missed the floral finisher this time because I tried to cut off the confetti-making arrow to keep as a souvenir, but it just hit the ground and burst into flower petals. Sad day.

Just then I heard Ammy and Issun come outside. I never thought I'd be happier to see Ammy…or Issun, for that matter. I had to keep myself from glomping them both. And I couldn't say anything about the weirdo things I imagined. After all, my imagination does tend to go mad every once in a while. That must've been one of those times.

"You would not believe what just happened." I said. "A confetti-crapping red imp named Toyo or something like that just tried to kill me." I saw Issun pull out a scroll. "What's he doing?"

Since Issun seemed to be giving me the silent treatment, Ammy answered for him. "The priest of the shrine gave us a wanted list, and that was one of the monsters."

"Oh…cool." I looked at the giant gate in front of us. "So…should we go see the Moon Cave next?"

"Sure." But as we were walking, Issun jumped off Ammy's head. "And what do you think you're doing?" I asked him. He didn't reply.

"Issun," Ammy warned.

"I refuse to go to the Moon Cave if Silver's going."

"Are you freaking serious?"

"Issun, you need to act more mature. Why won't you go?"

"Because. I'll just wait here. You two can go see it, but I'm staying here!"

I gave a wolfish shrug. "Suit yourself." Ammy and I started to walk towards the Moon Cave. Then I started to realize that this wasn't such a great idea. Issun was the helping character. Although annoying, some of the things he said were useful. What if there was something Ammy needed to know, but Issun wasn't here to say it? I guess I had to get as much information to Ammy as possible without making it seem suspicious. Nothing too Issun-sounding, and no mentioning things it'd be impossible for me to know. I hoped I could remember most of what Issun said in the game up to three days ago…

I had a feeling lines would be butchered. Badly.

Ammy and I stopped when we saw the scenery change. What was once just a sandy path turned into a trail leading all the way into a huge mountain. The sky turned dark and was filled with thunder clouds, and there was lightning striking off in the distance.

Time to murder some dialogue.

"Uh…I thought the Moon Cave looked different a second ago…before we passed through that gate, at least." I commented. "Seriously, what the heck's up with the random appearing mountain over there?"

"That definitely wasn't in the middle of the lake a minute ago." Ammy agreed.

"The Moon cave was where Nagi killed Orochi, right?" Ammy nodded. "Well, why was everyone calling that path we saw before the path to the Moon Cave? This looks heck of a lot bigger."

"I don't know."

"Well…let's check it out!" I suggested in a much more enthusiastic manner. We ran down the path and up some stone stairs before reaching the entrance to the Moon Cave. A weird-looking barrier blocked us from going any further. Then I realized that Ammy didn't know if it was dangerous to touch or not. And I still had to make a point of that…well, it _was_ something I did when I played Okami…and, I guess it was something I'd do, proven by the time I'd poked the mud back in Hana Valley. _Here goes nothing…_

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Ammy warned, seeing my expression. Thank you, Ammy, for saving me from being stung, or zapped, or burned, or disintegrated, or…actually, looking back on it, there were a lot of things that could've happened…okay, my gratefulness went up. By a lot. I gave Ammy an innocent smile. She just laughed and rolled her eyes. "Let's get back to Issun now. I'm sure he'll want to hear about the magical appearing mountain."

"From you, at least."

"Of course, from me."

"Can we go now?" Issun asked in an impatient tone when we finally reached him.

"Sure." I answered, but he acted like he didn't hear me.

Ammy looked at me. "You don't want to tell him?"

"Tell me what?"

"Nah."

"What're you two talking about?"

"It's not important."

"C'mon, Silver! Tell me anyways!"

"No, I don't think I wanna."

"The Moon Cave looks different up close." I shot Ammy a glare. Traitor. "There's a giant mountain with a cave, but a barrier is blocking the entrance."

"Strange…" Issun said. "Well, we can figure out why that is later. We still have one last place in Shinshu Field to visit." As we were walking, I noticed Ammy watching me.

"What?" I asked.

"You're tired." I just noticed that it was nighttime. Right, it had to have been night before Ammy and Issun walked out of the Moon Shrine, since the imps on the wanted list only came out at night. And it was daytime when Ammy and Issun went in. Was I out of it for an entire day? But those two wouldn't take that long to talk to Mica. I tried to remember back to my playthrough of Okami. If I remembered right, it turned to night right after I got the wanted list. Maybe it was like using crescent? But that didn't explain why I was so tired…

Then I realized that Ammy and Issun were staring at me, expecting a response. "No, it's fine. I'm not that tired." I felt my eyelids drooping. I can be such a bad liar at times. "Let's just get going." But I tripped right when I tried to go forward.

"Uh huh. I think you need to sleep again." I didn't protest this time. Ammy and I went to the place with the two trees we bloomed and slept there for the night. But I'm pretty sure that right before I went to sleep, I heard Issun muttering about more time wasted.

* * *

><p>"Hey! Fluffy!" I felt something tiny bouncing on my snout and swatted it off with my paw. "C'mon! Wake up! We don't have all day!" I finally registered the voice as Issun's…<em>okay, goin' back to sleep, then…<em>I yelped when I felt something stab my paw. I was sitting up in an instant. I looked down at my paw and saw a few drops of blood on it. _The freaking nerve of that poncle… _"Hey, Ammy! I finally woke her up!" Issun announced.

"I can see that." Ammy said in a bored tone.

"He stabbed me!" I complained.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"Oh, look who's talking."

"Hey, at least I _try_ to be useful!"

"Yeah, by repeating everything everyone says and using the occasional brush technique. That sure helps us out a lot."

"Better than just being here to slow us down!"

"This again? I swear, if you mention that one more time, I will freaking dise-" A growl from Ammy stopped me from finishing the sentence.

"You two need to stop fighting." She gave us both a stern look until we nodded.

"You'll have to wait until heck freezes over for that." I muttered once she was out of earshot. We took a left at the top of the hill and it didn't take us long to get to our last stop. The Agata Forest Port.

"The ferry between Shinshu Field and Agata Forest docks here." Issun informed us. "The ferry used to run frequently, but it's been out of service since the water level dropped. Well…I think we've seen about all there is to see here in Shinshu Field. Maybe it's time we checked in on Sakuya back in Kamiki Village."

"Yeah, we've sorta been putting it off for two days."

"Who asked you?"

"No one. I just stated a fact."

"Well, that's my job."

"If I remember correctly, your job is to be redundant and annoying at all times."

"No, my job is to be informative and to flirt with cute girls. _Your _job is to be annoying."

"Not really to be annoying, just to annoy you. And whose job is it to be redundant, then?"

"No ones. But you forgot, your other job is to slow us down."

"A)You were the one who stated my jobs first, and B)I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Issun was saved only by Ammy returning before I took Issun's insides out.

"She's trying to kill me!" Issun yelled as he jumped onto Ammy's head. "She's murderous! Let's just ditch her now before she does us both in!"

"Issun, stop being ridiculous."

"But…she…she seriously said…"

"You'd really expect me to kill you, Issun? I feel hurt."

"I wouldn't put it past you…"

"Issun!"

"I'm joking!"

"Didn't sound like it."

"You stay out of this, Fluffy!"

"I was in it from the beginning, you idiot!"

"Oh, yeah…"

"Oh my gosh…" I was trying not to bash my head on the nearest rock. Another one of Issun's jobs: being stupid. And boy, is he good at it.

We made one more trip around Shinshu Field, getting(hopefully)all the treasure we missed. A vengeance slip from destroying a demon gate, an exorcism slip s from a crack in the cliff side, a buried stray bead across the river from the origin mirror and up a small cliff, a vase next to the dock near Tama's house, and a scroll titled legend of Orochi…right in front of Tama's house. How we didn't spot that before, I will never know.

Then we ran off to Kamiki to see Sakuya. After blooming six trees near the entrance of Shinshu Field, of course. Guess which divine attribute we upgraded this time!

If you guessed solar energy, you are correct! Pass go, collect $200, and here's a cookie for ya.

* * *

><p>MY JOB IS TO WRITE ALL THIS! *cherry bombed*<br>Celia and Issun: s/he did it! *pointing to eachother*

I dunno why, but I really didn't like that ending...*shrug* oh well. And, yes, Issun _did _pull off a time paradox by singing 'somebody call nine-one-one' XD  
>Celia: Are you done with your comments?<br>No! Not yet! I'd also like to say sorry if anyone was confused by the dream thingy Celia had.(i know at least one person who reads this hasn't gotten past the Tsuta Ruins yet...)I wrote this chapter a long time ago and never really considered that a person who hasn't gotten that far might be reading this. If there's anyone who has not played that far yet, again, sorry. Just nod your head and go along with it for now, you can re-read it once you've played that far in the game or read that far in my fanfic. XD  
>Celia: *staying quiet*<br>Yes, I am done.  
>Celia: Thank you. R-<br>Issun: Read and review, please!  
>Celia: It was my turn!<br>Issun: Well, too bad!  
>*giant fight that I'd rather not describe due to too much violence*<br>*shaking head* They just won't ever quit.


	8. Breakdancing galore

*looks at word count for this chapter* Wow, this is really pathetic compared to the last chapter...but oh well. A small chapter is better than no chapter, right? Oh well, I think the next chapters are long, anyways.

Thanks to Greentabbycat(and Tabitha, of course)for reviewing!...but why only one review? Do you all not like cookies or something? I can give you an awesome potato inste-*powerslahsed*  
>Celia: *holding painbrush* bad author. bad author. no giving out things that belong to other authors before asking.<br>Issun:...Silver, she's not waking up...  
>Celia: O.O uh...let's get to the chapter!<br>Ammy: We have to have a disclaimer, though.  
>Celia: Fine! Desi doesn't own Okami, she only owns me. She also does not own the replies 'your generation' and 'look at my face. does it look like i care?' they belong to her friends. NOW ON WITH THE CHAPTER ALREADY!<p>

* * *

><p>Chapter 6-Breakdancing galore<p>

"Wow, what's all this?" Issun gasped as we set foot(er…paw) in Kamiki. "The village's just bustling with activity! Wonder what's goin' on?"

"Well, they _were_ celebrating because you left, but now I guess the party's over. Darn. I wanted some cake."

Issun glared at me. "Why do ya gotta be so mean?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Yeah, but you never do."

"What kind of comeback is that?"

"A witty one."

"…Ammy, can you come over there? I think Issun's broken."

"I'll break your face."

"I'll break your mom's face."

"I'll break your generation's face."

"…what?"

"That's what I thought."

I shook my head and just continued walking. Of course, Issun was on my head at the moment ant not Ammy's, so I guess I'd never get rid of the bouncing little ball of arguments and sarcastic comments. I finally caught up to Ammy at the bridge, where a happy-looking Komuso was dancing. He began to talk when he saw me.

"Ah ha ha! What a joy to see life returning to the land! Just 15 more to go…we will be blessed with a miracle when all the trees are in bloom!" So, we just needed to bloom some trees? That sounded simple enough.

"Hey Ammy," Issun said. "Can you bloom all the trees? Silver and I are going to visit Sakuya."

"When did I agree to that?"

"Sure. I'll meet you by the sacred deck." She said, then ran off to bloom some trees. I didn't really have a choice, so I just decided to take Issun to Sakuya's tree.

"You can be really bossy, you know that?" I complained as we made our way towards Konahana.

"You're over-exaggerating. I'm not that bossy."

"You _stabbed_ me!"

"Because you wouldn't wake up!"

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not a morning person." I passed under the gate, and apparently all arguments were forgotten. For the moment, at least.

"Heya, Sakuya, my pretty little blossom!" Issun called. "You're lookin' mighty fine thanks to us!" There was no response. "Hey, why doesn't she say something? Hm, come to think of it, I haven't seen her around lately…" He started to freak out. "She didn't kick the bucket, did she? Come on, Sakuya! Let's see that pretty little face of yours!"

"Calm down, Issun. She's a wood sprite. Konahana looks perfectly fine to me, she can't be dead."

"I guess you're right…"

"Come on, let's get to the sacred deck." But as we passed under the foundation for the deck, I stopped.

"What're you doing, Fluffy? Let's get goin' already!"

I sniffed the air, then pointed to the second set of rafters in the foundation. "I smell treasure over there."

"Are you sure you can even make it up there?"

"Heck yeah!" I jumped onto the rafter with the first chest, then tried to jump to the next one…but I failed and fell to the ground.

"This is going to be a while."

Twenty-four attempts later…

"HOW DO I GET TO THE SECOND RAFTER?"

"Can't you do this later?"

"No!"

"Fine, if you break something, don't blame me."

"What are you two doing?" Ammy asked when she saw us.

"Trying to get to a chest."

"Do you want me to help?" She offered.

"No, I can do it myself."

"Okay." She walked off towards the sacred deck.

"You seriously refused her help?"

"I'll get it soon, Issun."

"Yeah…sure…"

Fifty-one failed attempts later…

Ammy apparently had enough of my fails and wanted to put me out of my misery, so she came back to help us. Come back meaning she fell from the sky.

"What the…how did you…" I stared at her.

"I jumped off the sacred deck. And you really need help with this. Don't deny it, I've been watching you for the past ten minutes."

"…okay, fine. I need help." I grumbled. Ammy jumped onto the first rafter, leaped to the second one, and did a wall jump off the cliff side to reach the rafter above. I heard a powerslash, and she jumped down.

"They were glass beads." I felt my eye twitch. Glass beads? The most worthless treasure in existence? I had 51 failed attempts and Ammy got it on her first try! That should've been a stray bead or a valuable treasure or _something_ better than that!

"Your expression is priceless, Silver." Issun was cracking up. He was now on Ammy's head, probably just to get a better look at my face.

"Shut up. Let's just go to the sacred deck already."

"At last…" Mr. Orange said. "At last, the answer to all my prayers! All the village's trees have sprung back to life! It is time to harness the power that dwells within the good earth. Yes! It is time for the Konahana Shuffle! I shall summon back the spirit of the divine tree Konahana!" He grabbed a jug of sake I didn't even know he had. "But first, I must break my vow of temperance." AKA it was his excuse to drink. "I shall gingerly sip the sake, and soon we shall see blossoms!"

"So let me get this straight. When a drunk old man starts to break dance, flowers will magically appear on trees?"

"Yep."

"…what is my life turning into?"

Mr. Orange 'gingerly sipped' the sake, then threw the jug over his shoulder. The orange on his head grew to a _huge_ size. I'm surprised it didn't crush him. "Oh, yes. Yes! Yes!" I couldn't stop staring at the orange. Seriously, what the heck?

"Hey gramps, you okay? You got a real weird look in your eyes!" Issun said.

Mr. Orange turned to us. "Snowball! Ash!" Wait, my new nickname was _Ash?_ He had to be kidding. "What you're about to see is the stuff of legends!" Ammy turned away so she wouldn't have to smell his bad breath, and I fell onto the ground twitching. It was horrible as is, but with a wolf nose? I thought I was going to die.

"Behold, the secret of secrets! I give you…the Konahana Shuffle!" He started dancing and each time he pointed at a section of the tree it burst into blossoms. But at one part the tree didn't bloom. I guessed that was our cue, so I painted a circle around that part of the tree. It burst into petals, and Mr. Orange continued to dance. Ammy caught on and did the same. After two more times, Issun decided to try.

But he accidentally used sunrise instead of bloom.

"Issun!" I growled. "That was the last one, too!"

"Sorry!" He said, but it didn't sound like it to me.

"It didn't work! Not even a bit!" Mr. Orange was lying on the ground with a depressed look on his face. "The tree was supposed to become a blaze of blossoms. Is the Konahana Shuffle nothing but a sham?"

"Everything we know is a lie!" Issun yelled. I ate him so he wouldn't discourage Mr. Orange anymore. (and so he couldn't mess up the Konahana Shuffle again)

Mr. Orange sat up. "No, it cannot be! I won't give up! I shall keep dancing till Konahana blossoms!" Then he stood up. "Once again, the secret of secrets! The Konahana Shuffle!"

"…it's not as cool as last time." I could only nod in agreement, since I still didn't want to release Issun from his wolf slobber prison.

One break dance, five blooms, one flower covered tree, and one ticked off, slobber-covered poncle later…

Mr. Orange passed out on the sacred deck. Ammy sniffed him, whereas I kept my distance. I did _not_ wanna have to smell his bad breath again.

"Ah…Great Amaterasu and Celia." I looked up to see…

"S-Sakuya?" Issun stuttered. "You're alive? And you…um…look very nice!"

"Little bug friend, I see you are full of spunk as always." She gave a small laugh. "I also owe this elderly gentleman my deepest thanks. What bravery! Mere words cannot express my gratitude."

"All he did was get drunk and dance. We did most of the work." I muttered.

"Thanks to you all, I have been restored and re-energized." I just realized that she was now wearing a bikini or something like that. With the way she was posing, I seriously think she was _trying_ to get Issun to think dirty thoughts. Said poncle just gulped. "Of course, the ones who deserve my thanks and respect the most are none other than the glorious god Amaterasu and the brave Celia! Praise be to you both!" Then she laughed and we, obviously, got some praise. Yay. "I cannot guarantee that it will mean salvation for all of Nippon, but if you restore the Guardian Saplings spread about the land, you too will benefit from the power that results. I will remain here in Kamiki, praying for your mission's success. How I look forward to gazing upon you again! May the fresh scent of flowers protect you always!" Then she disappeared. Right after the sky turned dark and the stars started to shine.

"Aw, man…what now?" Issun asked.

"What, you _don't _want a new brush technique?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Then shut up."

"Hurtful."

"Look at my face. Does it look like I care?"

While Issun and I were arguing, Ammy painted in the stars are released the next brush god. It was another monkey. It did a back flip and tried to jump down to us. Key word being tried. An invisible force was in his way and he was knocked back a few feet. He tried to come down again, this time actually succeeding. Sakigami, who sat behind Hasugami, gave his brother an annoyed look.

"Way to break the fourth wall." I muttered, thinking back to when I played Okami. He was supposed to make contact with the TV screen and break it.

"What?" Issun was probably giving me a weird look.

"Nothing. Or at least nothing you'd understand."

"Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…" Hasugami finally started talking. "Long have I hidden myself here among the nature of Kamiki. But the time has come for I, Hasugami, proud member of the Hanagami trio of flora gods, to reveal myself. May my power be of assistance on your grave quest." We got the brush technique, and then we were back in Kamiki.

"Holy smokes!" Issun exclaimed. "That was Hasugami! With the water lily power, you can even create lily pads on water! You can use them to cross any body of water! Let's try it out! C'mon! This way, Ammy!" Issun bounced off Ammy's head and she ran after him. Well, he didn't really address me, so…I jumped off the sacred deck and dashed off to where I knew they would go, which was behind Susano's house at the water's edge. I waited for them to arrive.

"How did you…no. On second thought, I'm not going to ask." Issun said in an unamused tone. "Anyways, I've been eyeing that treasure chest out there for some time. Why don't we create some lily pads here? Make 'em like stepping stones all the way to the island. Just draw circles on the water to make the lily pads! Simple. C'mon, Furball, Fluffy! Lemme see ya work wonders with those brushes of yours!" Ammy made a lilt pad and jumped onto it. I was about to join her, but then I backed up with my ears against my head. (So, first embarrassment, then anger, now fear. What next?) No way I was going to jump on that. What if I missed? I didn't know how good of a swimmer I was as a wolf. What if I drowned?

"Fluffy! C'mon! Huffy up!" Issun yelled.

"No way!" I stared at the water with huge eyes. "What if it can't support my weight along with Ammy's?"

"Then you'll get your paws wet. So what?" I still wouldn't budge. "Oh, no. Don't tell me you're afraid of water."

_No, I'm afraid of you and Ammy getting killed in the event that I drown._ I wanted to say, but I knew I'd be bombarded with questions and accusations if I did that, so I kept my mouth shut.

"The lily pad can hold our weight." Ammy told me. "And if something happens, I'll make another one so you won't drown."

I let out a whine, then slowly walked to the edge of the water. "Issun, if I die, I'm blaming you!"

"Please. I doubt you have the guts to jump on anyways." Well, that did the trick, 'cuz I practically lunged for the lily pad when I heard that.

"See? You're fine." Ammy told me. I turned to Issun and gave him a smug look.

"Hey, hey! Wipe that smirk of your face, Fluffy! I tricked you into getting on here." …yeah, that took the triumphant look off my face pretty quick. I glared at Issun, but he didn't notice. "At least we don't have to sorry about getting wet anymore! I know! Now that we've got this new power, we can use it to travel a bit farther out of the village! Remember the waterway leading to the forest I told ya about?"

"You mean the Agata Forest?" I asked. I didn't mean to be rude or anything, but I could tell Issun was ticked at me for some reason.

"…yeah. Our little Sakuya is back to her old peppy self, but…there are still lots of guardian saplings that haven't blossomed!" We all glanced back at Konahana for a second before remembering that there was a treasure in front of our faces. Ammy and I both made it to the island in one jump and then claimed a sun fragment. "Just one more to go!" Issun announced. I hoped it wouldn't be too long before we got the next one. Three more lily pads got us to the next island, where a clover was just waiting to be bloomed. And Ammy also found a buried chest with a stray bead. Then we went to the island on the other side of Kamiki, getting a wooden bear and dragonfly bead. All without having an argument. It was a pure miracle. We stopped by the merchant before we left, and I somehow managed to convince Ammy and Issun to let me buy nine more holy bones. Issun seemed slightly ticked, but he'd get over it. Better safe than sorry. Because I knew what was ahead. And if this was anything like the game, then we had one heck of a tough battle ahead.

* * *

><p>*waking up* ow...what happened?<br>Celia: We so kindly did the entire chapter without you. Say thank you.  
>wait, you did? *glances up* oh...but i'm still not saying thank you, you powerslahsed me.<br>Celia: you owe us all for the character introduction in the next chapter.  
>no, I don't. It's part of the game. And Ammy doesn't mind.<br>Ammy: Who are you two talking about?  
>umm...moving right along!<p>

Issun: r-  
>Celia: Read and review, please! ^^<br>Issun: you're mean.  
>Celia: It's called karma, my friend. and it doesn't like you today.<p> 


	9. Guess who?

Yeah! I got this chapter up soon! ^^ I told you the chapters would be longer again, didn't I? But anyways...I actually put a poll on my profile about predictions of what would happen in this chapter. 2 people voted. And they both voted 'TOO MANY OPTIONS! DX' I don't know whether to laugh or to regret putting that option on the poll...oh well! XD

Thanks to Greentabbycat(and Tabitha)for reviewing! *gives both of them an awesome potato* And thanks to Clawfire for reviewing AND letting me use potatoes to give out to my reviewers. *gives her a cookie, since she's already got potatoes*

Ammy: Desi does not own Okami. She owns Celia, though.  
>Celia: Can you please do something about that?<br>Ammy: sadly, no.  
>Celia: -.-<p>

* * *

><p>Chapter 7-Guess who?<p>

"This should be easy now that we've got water lily." Issun decided. We were sitting on the dock at the old ferry port, looking out at the water. "Well, at least for Ammy…"

"Hey!" I growled. "I'm fine with the water now, okay? No need to rub it in that I was afraid for a while."

"Sure, I'll believe it when I see it."

It was all I could do not to murder that poncle right then. "You wanna see it? Fine, I'll let you see it!" I snatched Issun off Ammy's head, my mouth slightly open so that he could see the surroundings, but not enough so that he could escape. I jumped off the dock, making a lily pad a millisecond before I hit the water. I repeated this six times before I made it to the end of the tunnel and spit Issun onto the ground.

"You ran out of ink, genius."

"It comes back, genius." I replied in an angered tone. I saw Ammy jump up onto the ledge with us.

"You couldn't have been a little slower?" She asked, shaking the water out of her fur.

"Sorry!" I said with my ears flat against my head in embarrassment. Oh, in case you didn't' know, only three lily pads can be made at a time. If you make a fourth, the first one disappears, if you make a fifth, the second one disappears, and so on. Ammy apparently wasn't fast enough to make it to some of the lily pads.

"It's fine." She responded. She made a cherry bomb near a cracked rock. "Well? What are you waiting for?" Issun jumped onto Ammy's head and I followed her down the tunnel. _These two are going to be in for a shock_ I realized as we made our way to our destination.

"The cursed zone expanded into the forest?" Issun gasped in disbelief. The entire area with water was cursed, and I'm sure most of the actual forest was as well. "I thought evil would shun areas with so much grass and trees. It must be some curse, the way it's changed the forest…" I walked to the edge of the cliff, careful not to fall off the edge. I spotted a small statue over on an island. Kokari...

"Come on. We have to keep moving." Ammy said gently. I nodded and followed her down the hill. How was she not affected by all this?...actually, she probably was, but was just trying to hide it. And _she _was the one comforting _me_ about it! This was her home. The land she looked after and the people she helped. I was just a stranger that somehow arrived here. Ammy's kindness was a lot stronger than I'd expected. Well, come to think of it, she _did_ risk her life for Nagi at the Moon Cave, even though he thought she was a monster and always tried to fight her. _Maybe there's more to Ammy than most people know..._

Since the path was blocked, we backtracked a little until we went down some stairs and ended up on a beach. There was a cave in the rock wall, so we followed it and soon we were in a small cavern. Most of it was water, but there was a small dirt path on the right that led to an origin mirror and a house. Three chests(flaming chests)lined the pathway to the house, taunting us because we couldn't open them yet.

"Huh?" Issun asked once we were in the cavern. "What's a house doing in this cave? How could anyone live here with that cursed zone spreading around?"

"Well, it's not like she could move, Issun. The ferry is the only way out of here, and it's not running anymore."

"Yeah…wait, how do you know that a girl lives here?"

"Uh…just guessing?"

"Uh huh…" Then something finally registered in his mind. "Wait, did you say a babe lives there?" He quickly bounced down the path and into the house.

"Should we follow him?" Ammy looked slightly concerned.

"Wait." I told her. "Three…two…one." A high-pitched scream came from inside the house, followed by a terrified-looking Issun bouncing out of the house like something was trying to kill him.

"Not a cute babe!" He yelled. He was so frantic to get away that he ran into me. I was laughing my head off, as was Ammy. Issun's glow turned red. "Did you plan that?"

"No. But it worked out perfectly anyways." He was standing on my paw, so I flicked it up and he landed on my head. "Now, come on. You need to go tell the nice lady you're sorry for being a pervert."

"I'm not going back in there, and you can't make me!" I shared a glance with Ammy. She nodded, I grabbed Issun in my mouth, and we went inside.

"This place is…interesting." Ammy was glancing around the room.

"Go on. Admit it. It's creepy."

"All right. It's creepy." Issun was currently lying on the ground in front of me, covered in slobber. He wasn't moving, so I gently picked him up with my teeth and put him on the desk in front of Madame Fawn.(the lady that scared him so badly)

"Now, is there something you'd like to say to the nice lady?" Issun didn't say anything. "Stop playing possum or I'll eat you again."

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry…that your ugliness scared me." He said the last part quietly so that she wouldn't hear.

"Ha ha ha." She didn't even acknowledge Issun, which probably earned me a glare from him. "You've come, white and silver wolves. And you look troubled."

"Yeah, Issun is our partner. Do you think you can change that?"

"I hate you."

"The feeling's mutual."

"You may call me Madame Fawn. I read bones to see the future." She continued. "I knew you would come. I saw it in a vision. It looks like the world outside is in great chaos."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. Did you take lessons from Issun?"

"Stop insulting me!"

"Make me." Before I knew what was happening, I was being chased around the house by a ticked-off Issun swinging his sword around wildly.

"So is the world inside." Ammy said as she watched us.

"This is not to say that it was not predestined to happen. However, this year is special…this is the 100th year since Nagi and Shiranui's adventure. You saw the enormous cursed area on your way here, did you not?"

"Kinda hard to miss!" I yelled as I ran past, Issun still on my tail…figuratively speaking, of course. Or else my tail would've been chopped off.

"Land rendered barren…all who approach tainted by darkness…only one creature has the power to control this…Orochi!" Ammy growled at the name. "Even so, the rate at which is spreads…incredibly…the curse can only be lifted by restoring the Guardian Saplings. Perhaps you will encounter one hidden here in Agata Forest. That's enough idle chatter for now! I'm trying to run a business here. Like I told you, I am a fortune teller. The bones reveal all. If you have the money, I can even tell your future, wolves. Interested?"

"Heck y-" I turned around and snatched Issun in my mouth before he could answer. Then I shook my head.

"Come back any time you're in need of my services. Ha ha ha…"

"C'mon, Silver! It's only 500 yen!" Issun's voice came from inside my mouth. He had to yell for us to hear him. I spit him out in the newly opened treasure chest which used to have a stray bead in it.

"No. Now let's leave, this place is creeping me out."

"I second that." Ammy said, and we both ran out of the house. Only when we got to the beach did we realize we were missing something…

"Hey!" Issun called as he bounced up to us. "Thanks for leaving me behind!"

"If you're expecting an apology, then there's something wrong with your brain." I told him.

"You'd really expect me to be that dumb?...don't answer that."

"Darn."

"Buuut…" He pulled out a scroll. "Look what I've got…" He pulled out a scroll.

"That is not what I think it is…"

"No, it is."

"ISSUN!"

"Just calm down and let me read it already."

"You don't know how badly I wanna squish you right now."

"Celia, don't kill him."

"…fine. But only because you told me not to."

"'In the dense and leafy forest, inside a cave sealed by rock, part of the wood sprite waits to be revived. It waits for a holy bomb to break the cracked rock."

"Now tell me, Issun. Did that really tell us where to look?"

"…no."

"Exactly. Next time, wait until we're stuck before you ask Madame Fawn for help."

"Next time, don't leave the person with all the yen alone."

"You're giving us permission to baby-sit you 24/7? Okay, then."

"Wait, no! I didn't mean it like that!"

I laughed. "C'mon, bug boy. Before we leave you behind again." I followed Ammy and we all went down a tiny path that hugged the side of the cliff. We soon found a tiny cave behind a waterfall. Of course, we followed that until we reached a spot that we(obviously)had to cherry bomb.

"…please, spare me from your comment."

"Hm, let me think…no. Way to waste our yen, you idiot." I was about to bloom the Guardian Sapling, but Issun stopped me. "What now?" I snapped.

"It's my turn." He pointed out.

"Since when do you get a turn?"

"Celia." Ammy said calmly, but with a slight warning.

"Fine. Go ahead, Issun." I grumbled.

"Thank you for being so generous." Came the sarcastic reply. Before I could come up with one of my own, Issun bloomed the Guardian Sapling and I was hypnotized by the prettiness…for five seconds. Then I realized that we were in a tiny cavern, hence, we didn't get to see much of the change. Even the 30 praise we earned did little to lift my spirits.

"Do you want to upgrade our solar energy? Or should we wait?" Ammy asked me. Good question that I hadn't thought about. I know ink was a lot more important than solar energy, but who knew how tough the upcoming battle would be?

"Um…I think we should wait for ink."

"Hey! Are you two blind? There are two treasure chests in front of your faces!" Issun yelled in my ear, making me go deaf for a second.

"Okay, okay! Calm down! Jeez! Now go on Ammy's head before you give me permanent hearing loss." He actually listened to one of my suggestions for once. I swear, I thought I was dreaming for a second. Ammy and I opened the chests and found two new weapons. Ammy got the Devout Beads and I got…actually, I didn't know what it was called. They were purple beads with green wind going down the right side of them. It looked…pretty cool, actually. Normally I didn't like the look of rosaries, but man, this one looked epic!

"Two new divine instruments guarded by a Guardian Sapling, eh…wow, Sakuya's gonna spoil you two rotten at this rate. Anyway, this is gonna make your lives a whole lot easier! The monsters are gonna try to get ya any way they can."

"That's so comforting to hear."

"So you need to equip a good divine instrument and practice with it! But remember, there's more than simply equipping 'em. They can be equipped as a sub weapon or a main weapon."

"Do you have to explain all this?" I complained. "You just put me out of my recently good mood."

"Fine, don't listen. Go practice with your stupid-looking weapon over there."

"I will." I equipped my new rosary as my main weapon and my reflector became my sub weapon. I practiced on clumps of grass and small trees while I waited for Issun to explain everything to Ammy. After a minute or two I got bored of that and decided to feed some bunnies and bloom a clover. Then I went to check up on Ammy.

"Are you done blabbing yet, Issun?" I asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am."

"So, how do you know what the name of the weapon is?" I glanced at my divine instrument.

"Sorry, I already said that and won't repeat it." _Liar,_ I thought.

"You get to choose the name." Ammy informed me. I gave her a look of gratitude. "These are the Devout Beads."

"Okay. My new weapon is called…" I thought for a second. "Hurricane Beads." …what? They've got wind, don't they?

As we walked through the tunnel, I started to feel down again. I was really looking forward to seeing that divine intervention and we wouldn't see another for a while.

"What the heck's wrong this time, Fluffy?" Issun asked. He seemed annoyed.

"I really wanted to see the divine intervention."

"Yeah, well, we'll be seein' a lot more of those." He paused. Oh great, what reply would his little mind come up with now? "And if ya ask me, you shouldn't even be allowed to travel with us in the first place."

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Well, you said it yourself. You're just a random girl that was turned into a wolf and brought here. You don't belong. You're not needed. You're not supposed to be here." That hurt a lot more than I expected. I actually winced. "You're lucky to even be here. You're lucky that Ammy and I let you join us. Ya can't get by on luck forever." His words were hitting me hard. I couldn't take it anymore. I ran past Ammy and onto the first island, but before I could jump onto the second one…

I heard a flute.

"Oh, you have got to be freaking kidding me!" Great timing. I looked up and saw a person standing in a tree, playing a flute.

"Hark! The call of the heavens, the earth, the sea…" He began. "They summon me fourth to defeat evil!" He turned around and then made a pose. "Waka, the gods gift to man is here! Bonjour!" Although Ammy was behind me, if I remembered correctly, she was staring at him. Good, I wasn't the only one.

"What's up with that guy?" Issun asked with disdain. _Hey! That's my favorite character in Okami, thank you very much!_ I knew I couldn't say that out loud, though.

"Those crimson and violet markings and divine instruments on your backs…you both look kinda weird, but I reckon you two pack a punch." He pointed at Ammy. "Especially you, baby." Baby? Was he trying to flirt with Ammy?

"Hey! Think you're so special way up there, huh?" Issun yelled up to Waka. "Get down here and talk face to-wait, did he say crimson shading? Can he see your true form, Ammy?"

"Oh, and now you're ignoring me _again?_" I asked in annoyance and frustration.

Waka jumped down from the tree, gently floating down to the water, which he stood on top of like it was solid ground. He made a ripple that turned into sparkles. I couldn't tell whether that was awesome or weird, but since he was my favorite character I went with the former. I was only able to stare with my jaw dropped. Then Waka spun his flute around and pulled a light saber-looking thing out of it. I remembered that Ammy shook her head and prepared to fight. I whimpered, but did the same. I really didn't wanna fight.

"Hey! He drew a sword!" Issun pointed out. Not gonna comment…not gonna comment…not gonna comment…

…that was totally obvious…dang it!

"Oui! This is how I get my point across, put intended…the moment the cursed zone started spreading across Nippon, I saw the shadowy figure that removed the sacred sword Tsukuyomi flee into Kamiki Village and seal the entrance with a huge rock." He pointed his sword at us. "You guys know anything about that?"

I tried to keep up an innocent act. "How would we?"

Waka chuckled. "We both know you're not as clueless as your companions, mon etoile."

"How do you know that?" I asked quietly, but Waka must've heard it, because his smile just grew bigger. I held his gaze, refusing to show any emotion.

"You will learn everything in time."

"This guy gives me the creeps." Issun announced. "Better keep our eyes on him." Then he noticed that Ammy and I were in battle stances. "Huh? Are you two getting all worked up again?"

"Magnifique! I wouldn't have it any other way!" Waka's smile got bigger, if that was even possible. "Now you shall get an earful of my beloved sword!"

"Hey, can I forfeit?" Waka gave me a questioning look. "I figured."

Waka just rolled his eyes, then made yet another battle pose. "Behold, Pillow Talk!"

"That's the weirdest name for a sword I've ever heard."

"It sure beats Denkomaru, though."

"I feel insulted."

"Yes, that would be the point of an insult, dumb butt."

Waka did some more battle poses with Pillowtalk and another sword he had. "Let's rock, baby!" He said, coming at Ammy and swinging his sword. She jumped over him at the last second, going into the water and quickly swimming to shore. Waka kept his sights set on Ammy, but threw a dagger at me. Surprisingly accurate, too. I powerslashed it and it when flying back at him. He fell to the ground dazed when the dagger made contact, and I took the opportunity to powerslash the prophet. I tried to hit him with the hurricane beads, but he was too far away. Ammy got a few hits in, though. She blocked a thrown dagger with Divine Retribution before jumping back out of the range of his swords.

Now Waka turned towards me. _Oh crap, _I just focused on hitting him with my rosary at first, which didn't really do much. And when Waka threw a dagger at me, I was in mid-attack and couldn't move out of the way fast enough. The dagger hit my right shoulder. I yelped when it made contact, but it was still in my shoulder. I had to grab it with my teeth and pull it out. Very painful. And not fun in the least. Blood was going down my right leg(which was now limp)and dripping onto the ground. Before Waka knew what hit him, an explosion came from his left and threw him off-balance again. Ammy power-slashed him while growling. Waka just threw another dagger at her. It made contact with her shoulder, too, but it looked like it was deeper in than mine was. I knew he just did that to keep her occupied while he attacked me.

"Oh sure, keep attacking the weak one, why don't ya?" I said sarcastically.

"You underestimate yourself, mon etoile." Waka replied.

"And will you quit calling me that? What the heck does that even mean, anyways?" Waka didn't answer. Instead, he just launched another dagger at me. Guess where it hit? Yeah, my injured shoulder. Just below the other stab wound. I tried not to whimper, and once again tried to grab the dagger and get it out of my shoulder. It was harder than last time because a)it was in deeper than last time and b)blood from the last wound was making the handle slick and hard to get a good grip on. Bleh, blood in my mouth.

I shakily stood to face Waka again. Hey, did he wait for me? It _did_ take me a while to get the dagger out. Well, that was weird, but I wouldn't complain as long as I wasn't as injured as I could be. Waka ran at me and I tried to sidestep, but his sword still ended up hitting my tail. Oh crap. My celestial brush was one of my main weapons, and now I couldn't use it. Greaaat…

I started to feel woozy, and I realized it was from blood loss. Oh great, first boss fight and I might already be killed. Waka decided to ignore me, seeing as I wasn't much of a treat, and turned his attention towards Ammy. She was still trying to get the dagger out. Dang, it must've been in really deep…A scream pulled me out of my thoughts. Waka had tried to attack Ammy with his swords like he did to me and missed…but Issun went flying off Ammy's head from the momentum and into the water. I had no idea what the heck I was doing, but I jumped into the water and swam to Issun, who looked like he was going to drown any second. _Sorry, _I thought as I grabbed him in my mouth and dropped him onto the shore. When I tried to get up, I felt really dizzy and weak. I looked back at the water. A lot of it was red. _I've lost that much blood already?_ I wasn't sure what happened next, but Ammy must've gone mad with attacks on Waka and finally won the battle. I fell to the ground right when the battle was over. Issun was bouncing on my head, trying to get me up. Yeah, like that'll work. Then he put something in front of my face. I couldn't figure out what it was, but my instinct told me to chew it, so…

"Fluffy. C'mon, stay with me! Don't go towards the light!" Issun said frantically.

"Of course…I'm not going towards the light…idiot." I managed to get out. "I am never touching…Waka's stupid sword…again." I was slowly getting stronger, and I felt my wounds closing. After a minute or so I was able to stand up and shake.

"It's been quite some time since I've tasted your power, Amaterasu. That's enough for now." Waka said.

"Too late now! You're the one who picked the fight!" Ah, Issun. Always wanting an excuse to try to kill Waka…although at this point I couldn't really blame him. "Hey, wait! You know this guy, Ammy?" She gave Waka a curious look when she heard this.

"I don't think so…" She seemed unsure. Waka just chuckled and put away his sword. Ammy stopped looking so aggressive, so I copied…even though I was still slightly ticked at him.

"Well…that _was _pretty tactless. Excuse-moi, baby. You see, I was looking into that cursed zone that struck this area. It consumed all in it's path, even the light of the sun. It is the curse of Orochi, the legendary 8-headed dragon!"

"O-Orochi?" Issun seemed genuinely afraid. An eerie wind blew across the forest when he said that.

"Do not utter that name without reason." Waka warned. "That alone could curse the weak of mind." I really didn't wanna test that theory. "Orochi was slain 100 years ago by Nagi and Shiranui, and its evil spirit was sealed away in the Moon Cave, which I guarded. You know, the cave in the middle of the lake over on Shinshu Field." Ammy yawned and looked around with a bored expression. "But someone has gone and freed Orochi by removing Tsukuyomi. The beast's evil has caused a cursed zone to cover these lands. I never thought the sacred sword could be so easily removed. Whoever did it waited till I was back at the capital. It seems things are afoot that even I did not prophesize!" He turned back towards us, and his jaw dropped when he realized that Ammy was asleep. I stifled a laugh.

"We're way ahead of you, pretty boy!" Issun said. "We've been busy dispelling the curse left and right." He accidentally bounced into Ammy, who gave him a frustrated look before going back to sleep. "That Orochi's gonna be mincemeat when we're through with it!"

"So you're the ones who've revived the trees in this area…but a lot of time's passed since Orochi's return. You'd better pick up the pace, ma cherie."

Issun's glow turned red. "What?"

"I'm sorry to say, our battle just now was a big disappointment." …okay, we did pretty bad. I'll give him that. "You're not what you used to be, Amaterasu. You may have defeated Orochi long ago, but…one cannot dwell on past glories." He shook his head sadly. "You've weakened greatly during your 100-year slumber."

"That's enough!" Issun pulled out Denkomaru. When I looked at him closely, I could see that he was trembling in anger. "Now tell me about that shadowy figure you saw fleeing to Kamiki! How do we know it wasn't _you_?"

"Relax, my little bouncing friend. I would never do such a thing. And if you want proof that I didn't do it, ask her." He pointed at me. "Oh, I almost forgot! I have a little prophecy for you. I can see into the future, you know. I foresee a log and big thrills!" He made yet another pose. Meanwhile, I was mentally groaning. I hated that part of the game _so much! _"You'll know what I'm talking about when the time comes!" He looked at me again. _Will you stop singling me out? Jeez, dude! What is your problem?_ "Anyway, I must be off. The work of a prophet is never done. Au revoir, baby." Then he jumped into the air, never to be seen again. (yeah, Issun wishes) Speaking of Issun…

"What a freak!" Said poncle was jumping up and down while waving his sword around madly. "Who the heck does he think he is?" He bounced onto Ammy's head. "Hey, wake up, Ammy!" She did so regrettably. "We got work to do…and things to discuss." Oh, great. I had a feeling I was in for it. We explored the islands while Issun went mad with asking questions and making accusations. "What did Waka mean when he said that you know that he didn't remove Tsukuyomi?" He asked as we jumped onto another island.

I jumped over a tree root and bloomed a bud. "Who knows? I honestly think he's mad or something." Oh, jeez. This was going to be one big lie-a-palooza, wasn't it?

"Yeah, I guess…" Issun admitted. Ammy and I jumped onto the next island, finding a buried treasure chest with a steel soul sake. "And what did he mean by 'you know more than you let on'?"

"I know how to bloom these things?" I said after I used a lily pad to get to another island and bloomed yet another bud. It gave me a steel fist sake.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't mean that. He was talking like you know who removed Tsukuyomi."

I leaped for the next island, barely making it without touching the water. "How could I possibly be able to know that, Issun?" I got a coral fragment from another bud.

Right before I jumped to the next island, Issun stopped me. He jumped onto my snout and looked at me. "Silver, be honest. Do you or do you not know who removed Tsukuyomi?"

I took a minute before responding. "No, I didn't." I felt bad for lying. Really bad. Really rea-well, you get the point. But they couldn't know. If I told them, who knew what would happen? What made me feel even worse? Issun and Ammy believed me completely. At that moment I wanted to tell them so badly. The guilt was so overwhelming that I just followed silently behind Ammy as we went across the islands.

"Well," Issun said as we came back to the beach. "I forgot to say this before, so welcome back to the land of the living."

"Thank you…even if it was late. Although I have to say, I'm amazed that I'm hearing those words coming from you."

"Yeah, well…don't expect me to be nice this often. It's just because you saved me from drowning. You're one of the people I hate most. Waka is the only one that beats you."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Make it one and I'll cherry bomb you in your sleep."

"Calm down, bug boy. Being as annoying as Waka? Now that's an impossible task."

"Will you quit callin' me that?"

I just walked up the steps. (Issun was with Ammy, so I was leaving him behind) "It's a step up from bug, at least I'm acknowledging that you're a human being…but a tiny one at that." I had to run to spare myself from being pricked by a tiny sword. Luckily, by the time I got to the merchant, Issun had cooled down, so I was able to stop.

"Oh, what a pain!" The merchant complained. "Deep in the Agata Forest, there's a big river called the Narai River. The bridge over it was destroyed the other day. So now I can't get hold of any new stock. Luckily, I've got quite a lot left in reserve so I can still trade. Feel free if you've been sent to do the shopping, pup."

"It still amazes me these people are letting wolves buy things from them."

We sold all our treasure and bought some gold dust. The merchant had, not two, not three, but _four_ bags of the stuff. We bought all of them. Along with 3 herb feedbags and a medium exorcism slip. After we left, it wasn't long before we ran into yet another person selling items. But not for yen…

"Oh!" The person said when he saw us. "How funny! I don't think I've seen a white wolf before…or a silver one. What are your names?"

"What?" Issun asked.

"Come on! Tell me your names! You may only be wolves, but manners are manners!"

"The name's Issun! This Furball is Amaterasu," He jumped onto my head. "And Fluffy here is Celery."

"…you know, I'm starting to wonder if you seriously can't pronounce my name, or if you're just trying to tick me off."

"That's a bit of a mouthful." The person said. "Let's go with Chalky, shall we? And I'll call you Charcoal." I gave Ammy a helpless look. She just shrugged. "As for me, I'm Kiba, the infamous fang trader…Yes, I am the great Kiba!"

"How can he be great if he's infamous?"

"Just go along with it and maybe he'll shut up soon."

"Oh, look who's talking."

"Be quiet."

"I stand by my previous statement."

"Now then, Chalky and Charcoal…you know about monster leftovers, right?"

"He makes it sound so gross."

"You know, what you get when you defeat a monster."

"Yeah, I think we would know, we've got, like, forty of 'em anyways."

"I'm talking about the demon fangs!"

"Yet he tells us anyways."

"He can't understand us."

"He was the one demanding our names a minute ago."

"…point taken."

"Demon fangs?" Issun asked.

"Is he acting?"

"I really can't tell anymore."

"All you need to do is tan those monsters' hides, and they drop a demon fang just before they disappear." He informed us like we didn't already know…I blamed Issun. "The aristocrats love to have them as a symbol of power. They'll pay any price you care to ask! So then…got any of them on you? Heh heh. Naturally, I don't expect you to give them to me for free! I, the great Kiba, have collected treasures from all over Nippon. We can do a swap!" He put down all his treasure. I stared at the golden lucky cat. Kiba seemed to notice. "That's said to bring the owner luck and draw money and other valuables near. It's worth 50 fangs."

"Issun?"

"We've only got 43, Silver."

I shared a glance with Ammy. "Are you up to kicking some imp butt?"

"I'm always up for it." She replied. So we went around the Agata Forest in an attempt to get more demon fangs. But some things that should be noted:

"Hm?" Issun asked as we ran into a familiar face. "Isn't this that bear that was sleeping back in Hana Valley? Man, he's still sleeping? Let's call him Sleepy. That's one happy bear. Seems he really likes spheres." And thus began the quest to roll random round objects up a hill to Sleepy. The first two things, a cabbage and a walnut, were fairly easy to get to the top. The beehive, however…well, I'll just put a monologue here for your convenience.

"A giant beehive? Well, bees do like honey…"

"Why is this thing so freaking heavy? It's honeycomb!"

"Just keep head butting it up the hill!"

"If I get a concussion, I'm blaming you, Issun!"

"No! I thought it'd stay there!"

"Well, you thought wrong."

"…shut up. Just shut up."

"No! Bad beehive! Bad beehive! Don't go behind the merchant's shop!"

"How is it rolling so fast? There's no slope here."

"And for once, I am proud to say that I do not live in the physics-defying world of Nippon."

"…we're gonna go through heck getting this up these steps, aren't we?"

"Most likely."

"Greaaat…"

"There it is. The final stretch. Yet the most evil part…"

"Stop doin' that, Silver."

"Just trying to make it more epic, gosh!"

"…I'm amazed you two haven't killed each other yet."

"Great job, you just ran into a cliff."

"Shut up. I just miscalculated the tackle."

"You just did it again."

"…can I eat him?"

"No. It's become amusing to listen to you two fight."

"No, no! Don't go off the ledge!"

"NO!"

"Okay, it's fine."

"Yeah, but we're back at the bottom of the hill."

"…I hate my life."

"So close!...crap. We're back at the rock."

"Don't ya just love gravity?"

"Shut it, bug boy."

"Are we at the top of the cliff already?"

"No, you're just hallucinating and we're back by the rock. Of course we're at the top, idiot!"

I kid you not, I cried tears of joy when Sleepy jumped on the beehive. Sleepy, on the other hand, just started dancing. "Hm? Did he finally open his eyes? Guess he really did like this sphere."

"Yeah, he'd better." We were rewarded with 20 praise and the sight of a bear dancing on top of a beehive. But after a minute or two we got back to hunting for demon fangs and any other items we may have missed…oh, yeah. And we ran into a sleeping Susano. (of course, he pretended like he was practicing battle moves as soon as we got close)

"Hm? Not you again, Fido and Lassie." He tsked. "Why must you always dog my footsteps?"

"We're wolves. It's in the job description."

"I'm busy practicing a new secret technique." Oh, how that will backfire. "You see, a terrible monster lurks in Taka Pass beyond this forest. It goes by the name Crimson Something Or Other!" I was trying so hard not to yell out _Crimson Helm, idiot! _"And it's rumored to have 100 followers!"

"Well, good for him. And soon we'll have 100 demon fangs." Ammy said.

"Yay! We can get the golden lucky cat _and _the peace bell!"

"And the wood mat."

Issun ignored me and Ammy. Yes, I said Ammy. Le gasp! "Whaddya mean Crimson Something Or Other?"

Susano got a nervous look in his eyes. "The name's slipped my mind, that's all! Anyways, I must rid Taka Pass of that terrible monster, before it harms anyone else. But first, I must practice my ultimate secret technique." No, please, don't. "Then again, the bridge to Taka Pass is out, so why the rush? But have no fear, once I master that technique, I shall venture forth to slay the beast, even if I have to swim those turbid waters! Now leave me be, you curs! I have training to do!" And with that, we were back to killing monster. Oh, and in case you wanna know, we found two more stray beads. One near a cracked wall and one behind the house. But why would you want to know _that? _Especially if you were, like, looking for the stray beads or something. Nah, that's just completely useless information…

Okay, anyways! Enough sarcasm! Let's just get back to the actual story!

"Yes! We got more ink!" I cheered.

"And we got the golden lucky cat." Ammy added.

"Best. Day. Ever. Minus the fact that I was nearly killed."

"And I almost drowned." Issun put in.

"…no, that just made it better."

"I'm starting to run out of replies to those types of comments."

"Aww, boohoo. 'Cuz I'm sure I'll have a lot more by the time this journey is over."

"I can't wait. Now, can we go to the island that you've suspiciously been denying us access from now?"

"Yes, Issun."

So we went to the only unexplored island, which if you couldn't figure out, was the one with Kokari.(no longer stonified, I might add. And, yes, I did just make that word up now. Do you like it?) We walked up to a depressed-looking Kokari. I actually sorta felt bad for the kid.

"Oh, poor Ume…I wonder if he's okay…" Then he noticed we were standing right next to him. "Oh, hello there, doggies. Are you all alone, too? I'm Kokari. Pleased to meet you." I stared at the stick he was holding. "What, this? This is my fishing pole."

"Oh…um…some fishing pole you've got there, kid." Issun said slowly.

"Actually, there's no fishing line or hook on it right now."

"That explains a lot." I still couldn't stop staring at the pathetic fishing pole.

"But there's a reason for that…my dog Ume and I were exploring a secret place the other day…an ancient building known as Tsuta Ruins. We'd never been bale to get into the ruins until we found a key deep inside the forest. But when we went in, we heard a horrible roar from deep within. I didn't waste any time getting out of there! I locked the entrance to the ruins and hightailed it home. I thought Ume had followed me, but he was nowhere to be found! I bet he's trapped back at those ruins! He must be crying, all scared and alone…"

"If you know where he is, then why didn't you go rescue him?" Issun asked. "This is no time to be fishing!"

"Yes, well, there's a reason for that. You see, on my way home from the rains, I fell near the water's edge and in went the key!" He started to cry. "I've tried my hardest to fish it back out, but…I've lost all my line and hooks! And now all I have is this pole! WAAAAAA!"

"Man, this kid's a crybaby…" Issun grumbled. "Give 'em a good head butt, Silver! Maybe that'll straighten him out!"

"No! He's just lost his dog and the key to finding him! Have a heart, Issun."

Ammy sighed. "I'll do it." Before I could stop her, she ran into Kokari headfirst, making the boy fall over.

"Ouch!" He yelled out.

"Now cut that out!" Issun said in a stern voice. Issun being affirmative? Yet another gasp! "There's nothin' I hate more than a crybaby!"

"Including Waka?" I asked.

"I take it back. Besides Waka, there's nothin' I hate more than a crybaby! You were the one who left your dog on those dangerous ruins. So you gotta do whatever it takes to get the key and go help him!"

"B-b-but…" Kokari stuttered.

"Listen here, kid…fishin's all about attitude. Attitude! There's nothin' you can't catch without the right attitude! Fish, babes, or whatever. It all can be yours!"

I shook my head. "What are you teaching this kid, Issun?"

"Go ahead! Act like you're having fun. We'll watch." Issun continued. "Boy, this murky water sure gives me the creeps." He said quietly, trying to only let me and Ammy hear it. But he failed.

"People call it the Deep Abyss because they can't see the bottom." Kokari told us. "But that's not why these waters are famous. Legend has it a humongous fish swallowed the moon reflected on the surface of the water. No one knows if the legend is true…but to this day, the moon never rises in the Agata Forest."

"Give the fairytales a rest, will ya kid? They're so gloomy. Think more positive. Have fun, fun!" Then he addressed us. "Okay, you two…let's use those Celestial Brushes of yours to help him out. There should be some fishing line on his pole, but there's not…well, just make some by drawing a line from the pole to the fish!"

"So this is using rejuvenation?"

"Pretty much."

"Just checking."

Ammy and I took turns painting a line from Kokari's fishing pole to the shadows of the fish underwater. Once it was on the line, we had to wait for Kokari to keep a grip on the fishing pole until the fish jumped out of the water. Then we powerslashed it and Kokari pulled it in. After catching a starfish and a goby, we caught a giant salmon. And the game developers did not lie when they named it giant. It was about four times my length. Yeah, big.

"Wow, that's a big one!" See? Kokari agrees with me. The fish started spazzing and coughed up a yellow tear drop-shape thing with a red swirl on it. "Hey! Th-that's the ruins key! It popped right outta the mouth of that big 'ol fish! Now I can go save Ume over at the ruins. I'm gonna go all the way this time! No running away for me now!" Then Ammy picked up the key in her mouth and we started to walk off. Kokari didn't seem to like that. "Hey! Give that back!"

"Heh heh, good move, Ammy!" Issun praised. "We can't have the kid getting hurt on our watch! Well, what're we waitin' for! We got a lost dog to find in Tsuta Ruins!" We quickly jumped off the island(no need to be near a ticked off Kokari)and walked over to the door to the Tsuta Ruins. The key went into the tiny gap in the door perfectly and it opened up.

"Well, let's go look for that kid's dog." Issun said. "I'm actually hoping we might find something more. Nobody's been in these ruins for ages, right?"

"Besides Kokari and Ume, no." Ammy answered.

"Just think about it…there could be a fabulous treasure hoard hidden in there! Heh heh heh…but enough talk! Let's start looking!" And with that, we entered the first dungeon of the game.

The Tsuta Ruins

* * *

><p>So, yeah. I didn't mean for Celia to end up being a Waka hater, but it just turned out that way. Besides, I guess everyone has their own opinions...even if they're your own OC or not...<br>Celia: *innocent smile*  
>*sigh* and I hoped that she'd at least not dislike him...<p>

Oh well! Read and review, please! And read this, too. *ponts to small piece of text below this text*

In the next chapter: The Tsuta Ruins gets a master, the trio gets the final brush technique in greensprout, and...Celia admits she has feelings for Issun? What?


	10. Sticks and stones may break my bones

I've got another chapter for you all! I'm getting better with updating, right? :P Of course, at some point I'm going to run out of chapters...I should probably start writing more instead of just typing...hehe...*sweatdrop*

Thank you to Greentabbycat(and Tabitha)and ViviCakes for reviewing! I tend to make updates faster when i get reviews, especially from new people. So here are some awesome potatoes for you all. *passes out potatoes* and yes, you may exchange them in for cookies if you want. But I don't know why you'd want to do that, they're not called awesome potatoes for nothing.(they've been known to take out yellow imps and other enemies) And since I can't really reply to ViviCake's review since it was annonymous, I'll just take up some of my valuable space here to reply. XD It sucks that your PS2 was broken. If you have a wii, then you should buy Okami for that. :P Ah, the beehive. Everyone hates it. I'll admit, I was too afraid to even attempt it for a while. And after I did on my first playthrough, I never did again. That is, until I started writing this. Because everything that happened in the monologue actually happened when I was trying to get that up the hill. (hooray for the pause button!)

Oh, and I know. Stupid chapter title. You're gonna have to deal with that for the next three chapters. I remembered this phrase and just couldn't resist putting it in this chapter and the next one, and in chapter 10 I just choose the title of a song that I've only heard once. So, yeah...sorry about that...*guilty smile* Anyways...on with the disclaimer!

Golden Lucky Cat: Capcom owns Okami. Desi owns Celia. Clawfire owns awesome potatoes.  
>erm...I never knew that the golden lucky cat could talk...O.o'<p>

* * *

><p>Chapter 8-Sticks and stones may break my bones…<p>

A statue, poison water, and overgrown roots. That is pretty much all I have to say about the dungeon. Oh, and the fact that the actual music from the game was going through my mind didn't help in the least.

"That's a pretty oddly shaped statue. Look at all that mess. Must've been here for ages." Issun decided. "and what's up with that weird water? I don't think we wanna go jumping into there. Do you understand, Fluffy?"

"Yes, I understand. Will you quit holding everything I do against me?" I snapped.

"Okay, just calm down. Jeez. How 'bout drawing some lily pads so we can check it out?"

"Not gonna work." I said in a quiet, sing-song voice. Ammy tried to use water lily, but it quickly disintegrated. "Told you."

"Oh, so you're suddenly the master of this place now?" Issun asked in a challenging voice.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am."

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it." He started to bounce off.

"I'd suggest going the other way."

"Why should I listen to your suggestions? Why should I listen to you, period. I'll do whatever the heck I like!" He continued to go to the left.

"He'll be back." I told Ammy. Not one minute later, I was right.

"Are you related to Waka in any way, shape, or form?"

"No. But I _did _see that the doorway is blocked."

Ammy just shook her head and walked to the right. Issun and I followed. (Yeah, Issun decided to travel with me again. Which was just inviting disaster, especially now. Did he actually enjoy our arguments or something? Well, to be honest, I thought they were fun, too…wait, no. Not like, y'know, people fight when they like each other. That rarely happens…okay, I've heard that when a guy insults a girl it means he likes her, but Issun's never really insulted me. And I doubt the same goes for girls. Besides, Issun only tries to flirt with cute girls. In case you've forgotten, I was currently stuck as a wolf. Which can't really be described as cute by any human. (well, not including adorable cute, anyways) Issun would never like someone that he doesn't know is cute or not. It's not in his nature. He's more of the 'hit on every cute girl that passes by' type…okay, fine, I'll stop trying to sugarcoat it. He's a player. I don't even like players anyways…no matter how funny they may be…

Okay, moving right along!

We made it through the first room without anymore problems or arguments. Just a possessed tree and heck of a lotta treasures.

Second room-

"Possessed tree." I simply stated.

"What the heck's that supposed to-gah!" Issun barely powerslashed a flaming fruit away in time. Ammy bloomed the tree for us. Golden Lucky Cat brought the fruit to us. Teamwork!

"Possessed tree means possessed tree, dumb butt. There's another one on an island up ahead, but I assume you can see that one, right?"

"…don't rub it in."

I offered to act as bait for the next tree, much to Issun's distress.(although he still stayed on my head despite his new fear of possessed trees)He was so paranoid that he powerslashed the fruit the second he saw it, even though it was supposed to be Ammy's job that time. So she settled for blooming it again. Golden Lucky Cat once again gave us fruit because, let's face it, that's all it's really meant to do. That and be golden. And lucky. And a cat.

Since I was already on the island, I dug up the clover, Issun finally decided to bloom something, (since it was _supposed _to be his job last time) and Golden Lucky Cat was useless for once.

Third room-

We ran. We bloomed. We obtained a lackerware set. We wall jumped. We crossed water on some lily pads. We walled jumped twice more. And that was pretty much the first half of the room. Room 3.5 was slightly more interesting. And not just because of the steel fish sake we found.

"What's up with this round stone?" Issun asked when we stopped in front of…well, you can figure it out. "It's probably much heavier than it looks."

"That's concerning, it looks heavy enough."

"Doesn't look like it'll budge, no matter how hard you two push or pull it."

"Even though it's sitting right on a slope." I said in an unamused tone.

"Don't you just love our physics-defying Nippon?" Ammy used my quote from back in the Agata Forest.

"It's great."

Then Issun spotted something. "Hey, look! Another treasure bud!" He started to bounce towards it.

"Um, Issun? I wouldn't do that if I were you…" The 'treasure bud' turned into our newest type of enemy, a bud ogre. To spare Issun from a heart attack, Ammy and I were right behind him the entire way. We just spammed it with attacks from our rosaries. It took us 6 seconds 'til he was stunned. I bloomed him, then it was once again time for spamming attacks…okay, a powerslash and attacks, but still…and a bloom to finish it off. When the fight ended, the previously stone ball turned to crystal. Much, much easier to push down the hill. Once the crystal sphere was pushed into the middle of a pretty design on the ground, the door to the next room opened.

Fourth room-

As soon as we walked in, not one, but _two _bud ogres attacked us! Scary!

…not really.

Ammy took one and I got the other. It still took us twice as long as last time, but at least it was slightly less chaotic than it could've been. Ammy got the floral finisher for hers, and of course, Issun just _had _to rub it in my face for some reason. So I went into a secret room and found a vengeance slip.

"Are Ammy and I even now?" I asked.

"Nope. Not even close." Issun answered.

"Thanks for making me feel so special." I grumbled. Ammy, meanwhile, had used sunrise to make some previously small mushrooms the size of a building. So, naturally, we used the mushrooms to get to a higher ledge, where the path conveniently continued. I used cherry bomb to get to a secret clover, Issun still refused to say I was useful, Ammy cherry bombed a crack in the wall, and then we all continued.

Fifth room-

This was so tiny, it shouldn't even be noted. But I'll note it anyways. It was just a bridge. A very tiny stone bridge. No items found, no enemies fought, no sarcastic comments made. Just a ten-second walk.

Sixth room-

Oh, I definitely remembered _this _room. One long, long bridge. But that wouldn't be all. I gestured for Ammy to go ahead of me. She gave me a curious look.

"Just trust me on this. I've got a bad feeling." She nodded and walked ahead. Then I followed a little ways behind.

"S-Silver…hold on a sec…" I stopped, but I was tense and prepared to start running. "My nose's felt all itchy since those huge mushrooms back there. Ah…ah…" He sneezed. "Dang it!" The bridge started to crumble. Ammy and I made a break for the door at the opposite end of the room. Issun was freaking out the entire way, screaming "We're gonna die!" Luckily, we made it to the door in time.

Seventh room-

"You can open your eyes now, Issun." I told him in an annoyed tone.

"How'd you know I was closing my eyes?"

"Lucky guess." Then I jumped off the platform we were standing on. Yes, Issun was screaming the entire way down. "Calm down, we're not hurt."

"Will you stop doing stunts like that?"

"Leap before you think, right?" If I could have seen Issun's expression, it probably would've made my day. I saw Ammy land right next to me.

"Well, now what? We're trapped."

"Let's talk to blocky over here." I suggested, walking over to Blockhead. AKA a wall with a face. Yeah, weird.

"Ga-ha! I am Blockhead!" Do I really need to tell you who said this? "I guard this place so that all shall pass!" It took him a second to realize his mistake. "Er, wait…make that, none shall pass! Do you really think you can penetrate my air-tight defense?"

"Yep." I answered.

"Ha! Impossible! Nothing can harm this body of mine! Of course, there _are_ those weak points of mine. A clean blow there would slay me in an instant!"

"Is he really dumb enough to be telling us this?"

"Apparently."

"But I wouldn't be foolish enough to expose such a weakness!"

"But you just did."

"Now, be on your way! None shall not pass!" I couldn't help but smile at that.

"So, what're we gonna do? Guess?" Issun asked.

"That'll take forever." Ammy pointed out.

"Then let's try this!" I used a tackle on blockhead, rewarding me with not only a slight headache, but the weak points flashing for a second. Ammy painted a dot on both in order, and blockhead suddenly cracked.

"Huh?" He gasped. "Were my weak points so obvious? I have failed, but let it be known I died a warrior's death." Then he exploded, logs appeared to help us get to the top platform in the room, and a key appeared. We went back to the main room,(yup, Blockhead was the thing blocking the doorway last time)bloomed the last possessed tree, and stood on the origin mirror for a second before going back to the last room. I picked up the key and we all climbed back to the top platform, finding a stay bead in the process. I guess I should give Issun credit for that one, he cherry bombed the suspicious-looking wall. The lockjaw(those weird looking things that annoy the heck out of you on your first playthrough of Okami)started to freak out when we came close.

"Are you afraid of this?" I asked it. "It's just a pretty key." Said key suddenly jumped out of my mouth, stabbed the lockjaw in the eye, and it exploded in a burst of light.

"…let's just pretend like we never saw that…" Issun suggested.

"Agreed." Ammy and I said at the same time.

Eighth room-

Just to save us stress, I decided to take care of the demon scroll. Ammy wasn't quick enough to join me, but I honestly had fun killing all those imps by myself. (okay, Issun was with me, but he just got the floral finishers)The Golden Lucky Cat sure helped, too.

"Are you okay?" Ammy asked me when the fight was over.

"Yep. Not a scratch on me!" I smiled. Ammy got a small exorcism slip from a bud, while I went crazy powerslashing every powerslash-able thing in the room. What? I was hungry, okay? After that we came to a broken bridge.

"You know what to do." Issun said.

"Yup. I replied, filling it in with rejuvenation. Then we all crossed over the bridge, stood on an origin mirror, found a secret clover(behind the origin mirror and through a small doorway)and went into the next room.

Ninth room-

Ammy and I split up to take down 3 demon gates. Nothing much to say really, except maybe that I needed to learn how to use my sub weapon.(Luckily, whenever I was hit I had godhood, so I was fine)Then we had to use sunrise to make some more mushrooms grow. We followed the path and found weird statues pouring poison into the water.

"That is really creepy." I shuddered. Issun powerslashed them all and the water magically turned to normal again. Oh, and Ammy and I decided to upgrade our solar energy.

"Looks like the poison that was polluting this water has completely cleared up!" Issun said. "Now it looks like a great place for a swim! There's even a waterfall!" I bet it'd be loads of fun to go straight down it!" Normally I'd be skeptical of doing something like that, but at the moment it sounded…kinda fun. "Ah…what I _meant_ to say was a playful dog like Ume might do that. I-I haven't forgotten what we're looking for. Have you?"

"If it means getting to jump down that waterfall, then yes, I have."

"And of course, heh heh heh…I haven't given up on hunting some treasure, either!"

"Of course, Issun. You and your treasure." I rolled my eyes. Then I jumped into the waterfall with Ammy closely behind.

"Hey, wait…" Issun said in a not at all suspicious voice. "I think we forgot a chest up there…"

"Oh yeah, we did!" I played along. "I guess we'd better go back and get it…"

Ammy rolled her eyes and smiled. "You two go do that. I think there's a treasure behind the waterfall." So Issun and I went back to get the chest.

"Woohoo!" I yelled as I fell down the waterfall. Issun was laughing.

"Are you two done now?" Ammy asked. She was currently standing at the water's edge and watching us with an amused look.

"Yep." I answered. "But there's another waterfall after this."

"Yeah!" Issun cheered. Ammy jumped into the water after us and we all jumped down the huge waterfall. Ammy was the only one who didn't scream.

"Th-that was fun." Issun said once we got back to shore.

"Y-yeah." I agreed. "Like a really scary type of fun. But definitely fun."

There was a second's pause before "Let's do it again!" Sadly, Ammy stepped on my tail so I couldn't move.

"No." I gave her puppy dog eyes. "I'm a wolf, that won't work. The answer is still no." I kept staring at her with big eyes for a whole minute before finally giving up.

"Why do you have to act like you're my mom sometimes?" I huffed.

"Because, if I act like your mom you and Issun won't do anything life-threatening."

"This entire journey is life-threatening." I pointed out.

"Okay, nothing _too _life-threatening."

"Okay then, _Mom._ Can I jump across those islands and go into the statue? Or is that too life-threatening?"

"That's probably where we have to go anyways." Ammy gave a wolf shrug and started jumping from island to island.

"So c'mon, Fluffy! Move your butt!" Issun commanded.

"I may be a wolf, but I'm not your pet." I reminded him before following Ammy into the statue.

Inside the statue-

The room was huge. Bigger than I imagined, anyways. Or remembered. There were a few patches of dead grass and in the very middle of the room was an unopened Konahana Blossom. Of course, Ammy and Issun had no idea what the flower bud was, so they ignored it for the time being. Instead, we bloomed all the patches of dead grass until the room was all prettified. ('cuz by now you should know how much me and Ammy like to make things pretty) Then finally the Konahana Blossom opened. Then the room went dark and starlight shined on our faces. Hm, I wonder what was happening…(yes, I'm being sarcastic. I'm not Issun.)

"Hey, look!" He said. "That light…there's a constellation here, too?"

"Aren't we inside? Heck, we're inside a statue inside some ruins. This brings the phrase 'physics-defying Nippon' to a whole new level." But Ammy and I finished the constellation anyways. It was, guess what, another monkey. This time with cymbals. He threw them into the air and did a back flip to the ground, followed by his brothers. But only one cymbal landed in his hand. He ended up running to catch the other, it was so far away that he was hidden by a boulder. After a few seconds pause, we could all hear some cymbals crash.

Tsutagami somehow teleported back in front of us, and the scene continued as normal. "Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…I, Tsutagami, the last in the triumvirate of Hanagami flora gods, have humbly awaited your glorious return for 100 years. May the fresh spring growth bloom from your show white and sparkling silver forms. Bring new life to the land that suffers under evil." And we had yet another brush technique.

"That was Tsutagami, the third and final god of flora!" Issun announced. "He's the god that can make vines do his bidding! One folktale tells how Tsutagami used that power to tie vines to his body so that he could fly through the air. Hey, that's a Konahana Blossom, the flower of the gods over there!"

"Anything else extremely obvious you'd like to point out to us?" Okay, I'm sorry, but I was suffering from argument withdrawals.

"Okay, fine then. How do you suppose we use this brush technique, then?"

"Like this." I made a line connecting the Konahana Blossom to me. A vine grabbed me and pulled me to the flower. Ammy copied, and we both landed on the flower. Issun didn't comment. Yeah, I also had withdrawals from wining arguments.

"Let's just look for more." Issun grumbled.

"Oh, like the one right in front of our faces?" I vined(even thought that isn't an actual word)over to the next flower. "Wow, burned twice in a row. Sucks to be you." I commented when he didn't reply.

"Can I just commit suicide now?" He asked.

"No. Then I'll end up committing suicide from argument withdrawals."

"At least I'll die happy knowing that."

"Nah, I'll pester you in the afterlife."

"Can't you just let me live in peace?"

"Hm…let me think…no." Issun just sighed as we made our way through the next doorway.

Through the next doorway-

"Are we back in the main room?"

"Looks like it."

"…my life will always be filled with backtracking, won't it?"

"It's not really backtracking, more than it's having the treasure right in front of our faces the entire time."

"Why are you so intent on finding treasure here?"

"Oh, hey! Look! A Konahana Blossom!"

"Yeah, you just keep avoiding the subject…"

We kept using the Konahana Blossoms to get to the top of the statue's head. There were four Konahana blossoms and four hooks attached to a giant rock. It only took Issun a minute and a half to figure the puzzle out.(Yeah, we let him figure it out this time) So we…well, if Issun could figure it out, then you should be able to. But anyways, we jumped down the hold that the rock was blocking…and this sentence seems incomplete for some reason so I'm just going to finish it like this.

Inside the hole-

There were wooden statues. And lots of 'em. It was moments like these that made me grateful for the Golden Lucky Cat. We stood on the origin mirror for a full minute before going through the next doorway.

I swear, the moment we stepped into that long passageway, the song in my head switched from the Tsuta Ruins to a tense, somethin's gonna happen type of song. Having the door shut behind us didn't really help, either. After the ominous, tension-building hallway, the room opened up to a platform, some stairs, another(although smaller)platform, and then a door at the end. Lit candles and dusty skulls lining the pathway to our doom definitely completed the feel. Two treasure chests at the base of the staircase gave us a scroll about godhood tips(which we didn't even bother reading)and a small holy bone.

"Hey, creepy skulls! Let's powerslash 'em!"

"What the heck is wrong with you, Issun?"

"What? I can't powerslash a skull?"

"Fine, go ahead." I closed my eyes, heard a powerslash, and then a girly scream. I then assumed that it was safe to open my eyes. "When will you learn to listen to the master of the Tsuta Ruins?"

"After I'm dead."

"At this rate, that won't be too far away."

"You wish."

"I thought we've been over this, remember?"

Ammy rolled her eyes. "Should we continue? Or do you two want to sit here and keep arguing?"

"Can I choose option number two?" I felt a tiny stab of pain on my head. "Okay, okay! Option number one!" The big, creepy door opened up for us. Was I the only one that found that unnerving?

"We gonna go in there?" Issun asked.

"Yep." Ammy answered.

"Really? Are you serious?"

"We have to go save Ume!" I said with determination in my voice.

"I'm getting a real bad vibe here. What's beyond this door?"

"Something scary." I said in a creepy tone.

"Something deadly." Ammy played along.

"Something that will want to eat us all alive!" I could sense Issun's distress.

"You sure we're ready? Maybe we should go back outside."

Ammy looked at me. "Are we ready?"

"Yeah!" I gave her a mischievous/determined smile. Issun apparently didn't like the fact that I was acting braver than him.

"All right! Let's go for it! Leap first, think later!" We walked forward silently, anticipating the upcoming battle. (because, let's face it, there's always a battle to be had in moments like these)

After a while something didn't seem right. Ammy and I looked down…and there was no freaking ground! We instantly fell a good twenty feet. Ammy landed on her back and I landed on my stomach. I looked over at her to make sure she was okay. She had the biggest jawdrop I'd ever seen in my life. I'm sorry, but…her expression was just priceless.

"Owww!" Issun moaned. "Nice goin', Fluffy! I keep tellin' ya not to space out like that!" A giant rumble made me and Ammy look up. "Hey, something moved. Whoa…check out this big 'ol flower." He jumped onto said flower. "We just might've stumbled onto something big here! Flowers like this are usually just packed with treasure!"

"Oh, so you're telling us you've seen more than one flower with _eyeballs _hiding treasure?"

Not surprisingly, Issun ignored me. "Hey, is that a dog down there?" I spotted a giant…something prepare to attack Issun. Ammy apparently noticed too, but I beat her to the punch at saving our little poncle. (shocker, huh?) I ran, jumped, grabbed Issun in my mouth, and somehow did a backflip over a beam of energy that the thing shot at me. I felt my tail burning slightly, but I figured it'd be fine.

"Hey, lemme go, wolf breath!" I spat Issun out.

"You're welcome for saving your life." I muttered.

"Ugh, now I'm all covered with your slobber again!"

"Yeah, and now I have the terrible taste of Issun in my mouth. Suck it up." The flower closed and the thing along with seven others started to gather behind the bud.

"Check out that shadow! I see eight-wait, it couldn't be…?" Issun's sentence stopped there. Luckily for him, he didn't have to sit through the suspense for long, 'cuz the shadow revealed itself to be hands, not heads.

"Are you the dogs that have been sniffing about?" A hoarse, although definitely female, voice asked. "I will not allow you to ruin my master's triumphant return!" The monster soon revealed herself to be a _huge _spider. Ammy just sad down and yawned. I pretended to sleep. "Sticking your noses where they do not belong will get you killed. Speak your last words, fools!"

"Cheese is yummy." Ammy stated.

"Your face is ugly." Issun said bluntly.

"Issun, I love you!" Ammy and Issun stared at me. "…what? I can't joke around?"

"How dare you!" Apparently she could only hear Issun, because I have no idea why she'd feel insulted by the other two comments. "Dog is not usually on my menu, but I shall make you an exception!" She growled. Seriously, that growl was pathetic. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Whaddya talking about?" Issun yelled. "I saw that dog you gobbled up! And besides, this ain't no dog! This here is a god!...well, the other one is. This one's actually a random human."

"Good to see you actually listen to what I say sometimes." I said sarcastically.

"Well, now! The beasts can speak!"

"Um, yeah. We can. But for some reason you can't understand us and you're actually hearing a tiny human talk."

"Very well, then! I shall send you back to where you came from!"

"I seriously doubt that, lady." I said.

"This shall not hurt a bit. Stand still for just a moment…" She tried to throw spider web at us, but we jumped over it. Then the battle began.

Ammy used a Konahana Blossom to get behind the spider and have a better angle for attaching the Konahana Blossoms to her butt. I kept her attention on me and dodged her attacked while Ammy did that. Then the flower bud opened up, and it was time to spam the spider with attacks. Or rather, the eyeballs inside her flower for a butt. Gross, I know. Ammy jumped off and before I could figure out why, the flower closed on me. Yeah, that was not a fun experience and I'd rather not describe what happened in detail. After a minute or so(yeah, a whole freaking minute. I don't know how I survived…ugh…)she spit me out next to Ammy.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah…" I shuddered at the memory.

"I'll distract her now if you want."

"No, it's fine. You go." She didn't argue with me. I kept dodging the attacks, but that little attack that she pulled on me made me really tired, and a lot slower. After a while, she was finally able to glue me to the ground with a spider web. A boulder promptly fell on my leg. Luckily, the bud had opened and Ammy decided just to spam the spider with exorcism slips since I was injured. The spider queen fell to the ground and burst into petals, and I smiled despite the pain in my leg. Dungeon one was over.

_And thus, Amaterasu and Celia were able to traverse the vine-covered ruins and defeat the devious Spider Queen lurking within. The ugly arachnid's body had been turned into a beautiful blossom and a feeling of tranquility reigned throughout the ruins. Inside the hearty blossom was discovered a tiny and defenseless dog, presumably consumed by the fearsome queen. Just when everything had begun to settle down…Snarling Beast and Swirling Lotus, two weapons long sealed away by the Spider Queen's magic, appeared before Amaterasu and Celia's eyes._

"The Spider Queen was hiding some sacred weapons! Tricky old bag!" Issun commented. "Hmm…maybe we'll get more weapons if we defeat some other monsters! Anyway, I can't wait to see what these ones do!" He changed topics. "Look at that. The dog's just sleeping! Wonder if this is Ume. You know, the dog that kid was looking for. Let's bring him back once he wakes up! But first…how about a good victory howl? It might even wake him up!" I got to my feet(somewhat unsteadily)and joined Ammy. No way in the world I was missing this! Issun unsheathed Denkomaru, and Ammy and I both howled at the same time. Then Ammy grabbed Ume and we made our way out of the ruins.

* * *

><p>Celia: Why must you always make me fail at fighting bosses?<br>Because, it's to help to keep you from becoming a mary sue. Deal with it.  
>Issun: haha, Silver! You fail at fighting!<br>Celia:...I hate you, Desi.  
>I have known this for a while, Celia.<br>Celia: *head/desk*  
>*eye roll*<p>

Golden Lucky Cat: r-  
>Ammy: *uses galestorm to blow golden lucky cat away* read and review, please. It makes Desi happy. *puppy dog eyes*<br>Celia: *muttering* in that case, I don't want you to review.  
>CELIA, DON'T TELL THE READERS NOT TO REVIEW! Just ignore the rebellious OC and review please!<p> 


	11. But names may break my spirit

I come bearing the gift of a new chapter. *shot* Okay, I'm sorry for the late-ness of this chapter. (and, of course, the one time I get a crap ton of reviews I'm too lazy and distracted by other things to type the next chapter -.-) But hey, at least it's nearly 6,000 words. That should at least slightly make up for it. Maybe. But anyways, thank you to Clawfire, GreenTabbyCat,(Tabitha, sadly, I cannot include you. You never said anything)Crimson Elemental Alchemist, Pixel, Dragginninja, ViviCakes, the anonamous reviewer, and Senom(yes, I know it was you. Especially after reading the review on Darknes Again)for reviewing! You may all have an awesome potato or a sugar cookie.

Waka: Desi does not own Okami. She only owns Celia.  
>Celia: Oh, come on! His appearances in this chapter aren't enough?<br>*guilty look*

* * *

><p>Chapter 9-…but names may break my spirit<p>

Kokari ran up to us as soon as we came out of the ruins. He was also still in a rage.

"Bad doggies! Gimme back my key! I gotta go save Ume! Quick!" He yelled.

"Your dog's right here, dimwit." I told him as I sat down next to Ammy. "And we went through heck to get him, so instead of scolding us, why don't you thank us?" Of course, Kokari never heard any of my rant. Luckily, he _did_ notice we had Ume. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining it.

"Ume? Is that really you?"

"No, it's Hayabusa painted as Ume." I said.

"Quit it with the sarcasm, Silver."

"…fine."

"Are you okay?" Kokari continued to talk to his dog, like he would actually answer. "You're not hurt, are you? It must've been so scary all alone." Ammy dropped Ume and he got into a battle stance. "What's wrong, Ume?"

"About your dog, kid…" Issun started. "He was deep within the ruins and he didn't seem to wanna leave."

"Really? How come, Ume? You mad at me for running away without you?"

"Ya got it all wrong, kid. You only _think _you left your dog behind. Truth is, he decided to stay at the ruins himself."

"He did? But why?"

"Maybe he was trying to set an example by showing how anyone, even a dog, could have an adventure." Kokari hung his head in shame. "Look at it this way-there's not much separating a boy from a man. They grow up before you know it and accomplish great things."

Kokari finally replied. "I see…so, I guess you knew everything, Ume. Like how my dad told me to go fix the bridge destroyed by the storm. And how I tried to get out of it because I was scared of failing. But your fearless adventure has changed me. You've given me the courage to stop shirking responsibility!" Then Ume pulled out a red fishing pole from literally out of nowhere. "My dad's fishing pole!" Kokari exclaimed. "I lost that in the forest some time ago! Did you sniff it out in those ruins? All by yourself? Well, I'm gonna fix that bridge all by myself! Boy, is dad gonna be surprised!" And then they ran off to fix the bridge.

"Hey, Silver…" Issun said. "Are you okay? It seems like your leg is hurt…"

"What gave it away? The fact that I'm not using my right front leg or the blood on it?"

"You're limping."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Only you, Issun…"

Ammy bent down and looked at my leg. "It looks pretty bad. Try chewing on a holy bone." I just shook my head.

"It'll take a lot more than a holy bone to heal this. I'm pretty sure it's broken."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Issun gasped.

"Well, I'm sorry that the blood and I not using my leg wasn't a dead giveaway for you."

"We can't keep traveling when you have a broken leg." Ammy said.

"I'll be fine. It'll heal over time, anyways." I told her.

"Not if you're walking around all the time."

"I'll keep my weight off it."

"Then you'll drag it through the dirt and it'll eventually get infected."

"Well, there's no way I can get medical help, so what are our choices?" I win. "Come on, let's just go check up on Kokari." I started limping towards the Narai River. Ammy stood on my right sight and helped me balance. "Thanks." So we went to the river(getting the Peace Bell from Kiba on the way)and then we found, guess who.

Mr. Orange!

…okay, I'll stop using sarcasm now. But we _did _see Kokari and Ume.

"Hey!" Kokari shouted when he noticed us. "I lassoed the rope to the other side. Look!"

"Hey, you there! Get that rope out of my way!" We heard Susano's voice. I groaned. This was gonna be heck…Susano was going down the river while hanging on desperately to a log.

"Huh? Susano?" Issun asked in disbelief. "What's going on?"

"My new secret technique-imploding barrel, flying monkeys-was a flop. I ended up being washed downstream on this tree trunk!"

"Here he comes! Hold onto that fishing pole, kid!" Ammy grabbed onto Kokari and I grabbed onto her tail. The tree of us would be enough to stop it…right? "No, wait! Let go of it!" Issun changed his mind.

"Too late now! We can do this!" I said through clenched teeth.

"No you guys! I said let go!" At the last second, a thought passed through my mind. Waka had said that we'd have a log and big thrills. So we would still be washed downstream, even with my help…

Quite a few curse words went through my mind as the log hit the rope. The impact sent all of us flying into the air. Kokari caught onto Susano's sword, Ammy grabbed onto Kokari, I grabbed onto her, and I felt Issun holding onto my tail for dear life.

"Silver, use your Celestial Brush, quick!"

"Wha-? Why meh?" I asked, having a hard time talking through Ammy's fur.

"Well, it's that or you and I go into the water and let Ammy do it!"

I let out a whimper, but began linking Konahana Blossoms to the vines on our log. But it was harder than in the game. Much, much harder. Y'see, in Okami, the game freezes whenever you use the Celestial Brush. In real life, that doesn't happen. So I had to swish my tail lightning fast to connect a flower to a vine in the blink of an eye six times while under a time limit. I would've said 'I hate my life', but that would've been an understatement.

I felt Issun slowly climbing onto my head. "Um…Silver? Ya might wanna hurry up…" He told me.

"Why?"

"We're about twenty seconds away from going over a waterfall! And this one doesn't look as fun as the ones back in the Tsuta Ruins!"

My eyes darted around desperately for a Konahana Blossom, but I never spotted any. Oh crap, we were gonna die…right before we went over the waterfall, though, I found one more blossom. And one more was all I needed. I almost thought we weren't going to make it when the log started going over the edge, but the vines finally pulled us back. We all fell onto the ground where we were before and the log was conveniently placed where the old bridge had been.

"Phew…I thought we were goners." Issun said in between gasps. "But it all worked out. Just look at that new bridge!"

"Did I do that?" Kokari asked in amazement.

"Heh heh, that's right! It was all you, kid!"

"Issun, you've gotta stop lying to Kokari so much." You can guess. He ignored me.

"I don't know what was eating you, but…you'll never get anywhere in life running from adventure! You should thank your dog for teaching you that!"

Kokari turned toward his dog and hugged him. "I couldn't have done it without you, Ume! Thanks!"

"Awww!" I couldn't help it. The scene was just too cute.

"Hey, where'd pops go?" Issun changed the topic. "I'm sure it'd take much more than that to kill the guy. He's bound to pop up somewhere again!" Right before we crossed the bridge, I decided to feed Ume for the heck of it. We also found some bunnies when we got to the other side. _Then _we actually moved forward…wait, no. We opened a treasure chest with ink bullet tips, reminding us to use our new divine instruments. We also powered them up with two spare bags of gold dust we had.

"Taka Pass lies ahead." Okay, that time it was Issun's fault! "Great plains in the mountains. Let's prepare for the worst…but hope for the best! Well, let's get going!" Ammy and I both stayed there, though. I thought I heard a flute…very faintly, but I could hear it. "Are we gonna go or what?" Apparently poncle ears weren't' as good as wolf ears.

"You go ahead, Issun. We'll catch up." Ammy said. Issun just decided to go with it. Smart choice.

"Bonjour." A familiar French accented voice greeted when Issun left. Ammy and I turned around to find the one, and luckily the only, Waka.

"What do you want?" I snapped.

"Taking our little bouncing friend's role, are we?" Waka asked in an amused manner.

"Don' t think I've forgiven you get." I growled.

"You were fine after that fight, were you not?" And besides, you had a full astral pouch. You wouldn't have died."

"It still hurts like heck to be stabbed repeatedly in the shoulder. Now tell us why you're here, prophet. I thought you would meet us up in Taka Pass?"

"Ah, no. I'm here for a different reason. Although, I assure you, I will be seeing you later in the pass."

"Good. So I still have the chance to kick your a-" I saw Ammy giving me a glare. "I mean kick your butt."

"With the condition that you're in, you're hardly strong enough to fight a green imp. And the little log ride probably didn't do much good for your leg."

"Yeah, ya think? Now if you're just going to annoy me and point out how weak I am, I think we'll just be on our way.

"Don't you want your leg healed?"

My ears perked up in interest. "What?"

"Well, your leg needs medical attention. You said so yourself. I could help you. What do you say?" Ammy and I shared a glance.

"I…guess I trust you." Ammy said hesitantly. "But the decision is up to Celia." I looked back at Waka. He still had that ever-present smile on his face, but he looked like he was concerned for me. I glanced back down at my leg. It was hanging limply and caked with blood, now sticky because of the little water ride. I took a deep breath.

"You may have fought us once, but you don't seem like a bad guy…" I sighed in defeat. "And although two thirds of us hate you…" I cast a glance at Ammy. "I also trust you. So fine, heal my leg."

"Ma cherie," Waka said. Ammy looked at him. "You might want to keep our little bouncing friend occupied. I don't know how long this will take." Ammy nodded, then ran off. Waka put his hand on my fur and I backed away. "If I want to teleport you, we're going to have to be physically touching." I let out a small growl, but let him put his hand on my back this time. I felt the weirdest sensation ever. Like there was wind everywhere. Like I was in the eye wall of a hurricane. It was sort of scary. When I opened my eyes, I was in a room. It was plain, but sort of nice, I guess.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"The Tao Headquarters." Waka answered.

"Doesn't ring a bell."

Waka just sighed. "Stay right there."

"Yes, because I'm going to find my way back to Taka Pass on my own even though I have no idea where we are." I replied sarcastically. Waka left the room for a minute or two, then returned with a bucket of water and a cloth. He grabbed my leg, but I yelped and pulled it back.

"I have to wash the blood off."

"But it hurts when you touch it." I complained.

"Do you want me to help your leg or not?" I sighed and glared at him, but nodded. He took my leg, gentler this time, and started to wash the blood off. We were both quiet while he worked. I wanted to say something, I hated the silence, but what was there to say? I couldn't really insult him, I mean, he was helping me with my injury. Luckily, he finished pretty quickly.

"Now go get on the bed with your right leg hanging down. I want to get a better look at it." I just did what he said, not in the mood for an argument for once. After examining it for a minute or two, he sighed. That couldn't be good…

"It's like I suspected. Your leg is broken." My jawdrop probably put Ammy's to shame.

"Well, what now? You can't put it in a splint for weeks. I'm a wolf trying to save the world here!"

"I know. Just calm down." Waka said gently. "I thought now would be a good time for questions and explanations."

"Great, you have admitted that you have another motive for helping me. Can you get to the point?"

Waka sighed and shook his head, but there was still the ever-present smile evident on his lips. I swear, that annoyed the heck out of me. "I know that you live in a different world," He began. "one farther ahead in time than our peaceful Nippon."

"Yeah, I guessed."

"I know about video game and what they are. I also know there is one called Okami, which tells, to an extent, the events that are happening now."

"Go on."

"You have played through it before, haven't you?"

"Up to Ryoshima Coast."

"Well, Amaterasu and Issun can't finish their quest alone. I've seen it." I remembered my visions back at the Moon Shrine. "Have you seen them?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." I said defensively.

"So you did…" I suddenly hated him again. "Well, prior to the belief of many gamers, they need help. And not from just any person off the streets."

I fought the urge to ask how Waka knew the word 'gamers'. "So…I was chosen?" Waka nodded. "But why me? There are plenty of people who have played through Okami ten times over. People who know every secret, every stray bead location, and every line in the game word for word. So why me and not them?"

Waka kneeled down so he was at eye level with me. I(somewhat forcefully)held his gaze. "Because you are special, Celia. In a way that no one else can yet guess. I know you had a vision at some time. Am I correct?"

"I…" I looked away in shame. "When I nearly committed suicide outside the Moon Shrine. I saw Issun die. And then Ammy. The shock kept me from drowning myself."

"Issun will die if you are not there to save him." Waka told me, turning my head back to look at him. "And Ammy will die if Issun is not there to help her later on. You had that vision right before you tried to commit suicide. That's because it was a prophecy. It was warning you that if you killed yourself, Nippon would eventually be destroyed."

I tried to put the pieces together. "And it warned you that Ammy and Issun needed someone to help them, right?"

Waka was quiet for a minute before responding. "Exactly."

"So, just a quick question. Why the heck was I turned into a wolf? Did you do that, too? Or was that part of the package of coming to Nippon?"

"That would be my doing."

"Okay, then. And why'd you have to do that?"

"Be honest. How long do you think you would have lasted in this journey as a human?" I didn't answer. "I'm waiting."

"I probably would've been toast before we got into Hana Valley." I admitted.

"Exactly. That, and it would be chaotic if you could only understand Issun."

I gave a small laugh, trying to imagine it. "Yeah, I can agree with you there."

"But, as you pointed out before, you can't just walk around with a splint the entire journey. So I have to turn you back into a human."

"Will me le-arm still be broken?"

"Nice try. But your arm will still be broken."

"Darn. Well, it was worth a shot." I gave a wolf shrug.

Waka put his hand on my head. It felt warm, like, warmer than normal. I felt myself changing. Y'know how I said the feeling of teleporting was weird? It ain't got crap on this. I could feel my bones changing. (And, although you probably don't wanna know this, I could hear it as well)The placement of my organs slightly changed. The fur on my body disappeared and turned into normal skin. I felt my hears go to the side of my head and change to their normal shape. Nothing hurt, everything felt weird. On a level that no one can even hope to describe.

I felt myself sitting on the bed, in my own body.

"It's been four days and yet I've missed it so much." I commented. I looked at myself and saw that I was wearing a purple kimono with silver accents It looked…really pretty, actually. Waka chuckled slightly at my reaction. Then he put my right arm in my cast. I asked to see myself in a mirror before we left, so he let me.

The girl staring back at me was one I hadn't seen in what felt like a long time. Although she looked slightly different. She was in the (epic) purple and silver kimono, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that reached down to her mid-back, and her light brown hair now had a few streaks of purple and silver.

"Is this permanent?" I asked, pointing to my hair.

"Most likely." Waka answered.

"I'm gonna go through heck explaining that to my parents when I get home." I muttered.

"Do you want to get back to Taka Pass now?"

"That would be nice." Waka put his hand on my shoulder and we teleported to Taka Pass. In the distance, I could see Ammy and Issun just staring at a cracked wall. I laughed.

"Listen…" I said. "I guess I should thank you for helping me with my broken arm."

"You're welcome."

"Although I'm still going to kick your butt next time we fight." I told him.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." I smirked when he said the already previously used words. "But you might find this helpful." He handed me a paintbrush. "It's not that good, but it will have to do until your arm heals." I nodded.

"Will I be able to understand Amaterasu?"

"Yes."

"Will Amaterasu be able to understand me?"

"Of course."

"Will Issun try to flirt with me the first time he sees me?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Probably not. And one more thing…will I be like this the entire journey?"

Waka took a second before responding. "It depends on how long the journey will take and how fast your arm can heal." I nodded.

"See ya in a few minutes." I said jokingly.

"Au revoir." And Waka disappeared in sparkles. Typical.

I heard Issun complaining from pretty far away.

"Ammy! Why can't we just go already? We've waited for Silver long enough!"

"Excuse me, am I interrupting something?" I asked as I got close. Issun turned and promptly fell off Ammy's head. He quickly got back up and I swear he was staring at my chest. I resisted the urge to squish him.

"Hey, babe." He said in a tone I never thought I'd hear him use to address me. "What'cha doin' here in Taka Pass? It's mostly one huge cursed zone. It'd be safer if you stay away from places like this. We wouldn't want your pretty face to get hurt here." I glanced over at Ammy and her look confirmed that she had already figured it out. But, as we all know, Issun is always last to figure things out.

"Are you seriously trying to flirt with me?" I raised an eyebrow.

I thought I heard a sigh from him. "No duh." He said sarcastically.

"I have now been disturbed on an entirely new level."

"I'm not a bug! I'm a tiny human who wears a bug for a helmet, okay?" I once again looked at Ammy. She was just as perplexed as me that Issun couldn't figure it out yet.

"Issun, your stupidity will never cease to amaze me. Now let's get going, I would like to forget that this little experience never happened." I took out my paintbrush and cherry bombed the wall.

"Wha-Silver?"

"Ding ding ding. We have a winner." I replied sarcastically.

"How…" He was speechless.

"Honestly, Issun. I'm in a cast. I have silver and purple highlights. Heck, my attitude should've given it away. And if not that, then my voice."

"Could you tell?" Issun asked Ammy. She nodded.

"Let's face it, Issun. You always have and always will be the last to figure things out."

You're so kind." He bounced onto my shoulder and I promptly flicked him off.

"Nu-uh. You're staying on Ammy's head until I'm a wolf again."

"But why?" Issun pouted.

"Sorry, but I'd rather not have a tiny pervert on my shoulder. Especially when said pervert has been found sleeping in peoples' clothes." Issun couldn't come up with a reply to that one, so we all just kept moving forward. Right when we came to a huge room, guess what happened? (okay, even if you haven't played though Okami, you should be able to figure this one out)

Yeah, we heard a flute. And spotted Waka.

"Hark! The call of the heavens, the earth, the sea! They call me forth to defeat evil!"

"Waka…" Ammy barked.

Said person jumped to the ground and turned towards us. "Waka, the gods' gift to man is here! Bonjour!"

"You again?" Issun asked in annoyance.

"No, Issun. It's Kokari in disguise."

"Shut it, Silver."

"Touchy, touchy."

"Long time no see!" Waka said and made some sparkles. Long time no see, my foot. But I didn't comment out loud and neither did Ammy.

"Did you enjoy the little log adventure I prophesized?"

"Yeah. It was awesome. I wanna do it again sometime." I answered sarcastically.

"Why you…!" Issun's glow turned read and Ammy got into a battle stance. I held my paintbrush like a weapon. Which in a way, it was. "Were you behind that near disaster?"

"Moi? Of course not! I just had a fleeting glimpse of your future. You see, I have the power to see which is yet to come." He kept looking at me. It was starting to tick me off. I thought we had this discussion minutes ago! No need to single me out! "Even if it were something you'd rather not know…" Okay, I had to feel some sympathy for him there. It was pretty freaky to see Issun and Ammy die.

Ammy got out of her battle stance, I lowered my paintbrush, and Issun's glow turned green. "The half-baked prophet's at it again…if you're so great, then how come ya didn't predict Orochi's return?"

Ammy tilted her head. "He has a point."

Waka didn't answer.

"Heh heh. What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" After a few seconds of silence, Waka _flipped his hair_(the heck?)and made some more sparkles.

"Excusez-moi? You say something, my little bouncing friend?" I stifled a laugh at Issun's reaction. He turned red and pulled out his sword.

"That's it!"

"By the way, I saw your battle with the spider lady." Waka switched topics. "A rather clumsy attempt, I must say. Especially from you, Celia."

"Hey!" I yelled and strengthened my grip on my paintbrush.

"How could a washed up old wolf and clumsy human possibly expect to save the world?" He turned around and pointed his flute at us. "Ridiculous!"

"What? You were spying on our battle?" Issun bounced up to Waka. "And it never once crossed your mind that you could help out?"

"Enough talk!" Waka pulled out his sword. "There's only one way to settle this." He struck three battle poses before yelling "Just go for it!"

"Oh, I will!" I hissed. Waka was a dead man! "Ammy, let me take care of this!" She gave me a hesitant glance. "Trust me." I begged. She finally nodded and backed off.

"Oh, so you want to fight one against one?" Waka asked. "Don't make this harder for you. It was hardly an even fight with Amaterasu here to help."

"I'll do whatever I dang well want. And right now, I really wanna kick your butt!" Waka threw a dagger at me. I quickly powerslashed. He fell to the ground when the dagger hit him, giving me the chance to powerslash him. After he got back up I hit him with the hurricane beads four times(equipped as a sub weapon)before he threw another dagger at me. I powerslashed it again but this time went in closer to hit him with Swirling Lotus. I backed off as soon as he got up and switched my weapon. Now the Hurricane Beads were the main weapon and Swirling Lotus was the sub.

I started to just dodge Waka's thrown daggers as I got nearer and nearer. Soon I was close enough to be hit by his sword. Which was exactly what he tried. But I quickly brought out Swirling Lotus to protect me. I picked up a dropped demon fang, then decided to use a medium exorcism slip. That really looked like it hurt. I powerslashed him and he got up.

"Resorting to cheating now, are we?" He asked and threw another dagger at me. I once again powerslashed it and decided to cherry bomb him this time.

"No, just trying to keep the battle interesting." I gave him an innocent smile.

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you, but being interesting does not always assure you victory in a battle." This time I barely dodged the dagger. I kept trying to hit him with the Hurricane Beads while dodging the knives.

"Yeah, but creativity is usually what wins the battle." I told him as he was trying to uselessly hit me behind my reflector. He jumped back and threw another dagger. "Which is something I can tell you obviously don't have." I stood over him as he was lying on the ground, the result of another countered knife. "Can we be done now? This is getting boring."

He jumped back onto a small stone. Since my foot was on him, I was sent falling backwards onto my butt. I looked up at Waka to see that he was panting.

"Not bad, mon etoile."

"Whaddya mean, not bad?" Issun asked.

"Yeah, I pwnd your sorry butt!"

"Whaddya want, anyways?

"Oh, I almost forgot! I had a question for you." Waka said. "Have you been to Lake Harami over on Shinshu Field yet?"

"You should know. You seem to be stalking us." I muttered.

"In the middle stands the Moon Cave, where Orochi's spirit was trapped." Seriously, why did he only tell us stuff we already knew? Annoying much? "A barrier has blocked the entrance ever since Tsukuyomi was removed. That means Orochi must still be in there."

"No, because Orochi just loves to leave the Moon Cave every day for an evening stroll."

Yeah, now even Waka was ignoring me. "I want to get through the barrier and enter the cave…but I'll need the Serpent Crystal in order to do that. You wouldn't happen to know where I could find it, would you" He made more sparkles. Yipee.

"Why d'ya have to pull out your sword just to ask that?" Issun questioned. "And why d'ya wanna visit Orochi's lair, anyway?"

"So then, you do not know? Tres bien. Hm…so that big windmill…" He started mumbling to himself. "At any rate, I shall just have to find it myself. But before I bid you adieu, I have another prophecy for you." He acted like he was looking for something. "I foresee a DOG-gone difficult quest…au revoir, baby!" And then he left in all his sparkly glory.

"Did he really have to make that bad of a pun?" I complained.

"Hey, Ammy, Silver! Let's try to beat Waka to that Serpent Crystal! I can't help feeling he's up to no good! Plus, we might just find a new Celestial Brush technique, too!" I powerslashed a chest that was in a small pool of water. Ammy swam out to get the stray bead inside and then we went up the path we _would've _gone on if Waka hadn't so rudely interrupted us. We were all quiet on our way to the guardian sapling. Which we all should know by now is a bad thing.

Waka's words came back to me. _A rather clumsy attempt. Especially from you, Celia. How could a clumsy human like you possibly expect to save the world? Ridiculous! _The last word echoed in my mind and my head pounded each time I heard it. Waka had turned me into a wolf so I'd be stronger. But when I was human, I was weak. What if I ended up being killed or something all because my arm didn't heal fast enough?

"Are you okay?" Ammy asked me.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." I lied.

"What's wrong?" She persisted.

"..it's what Waka said. That I'll never be able to help you two like…" I gestured to myself. "Well, like this." I sat down next to the bridge. "Face it. I'm useless."

Ammy sat down next to me. "No, you're not. So stop saying that." I looked over at her. "Waka was probably just trying to make you angry."

"…I guess that would make sense." I admitted. "To make me want to fight?" Ammy nodded. We both stood up, then heard Issun.

"Hey, Ammy! Are ya gonna bloom the Guardian Sapling or not?" Ammy and I shared a glance She just smirked and rolled her eyes at Issun's antics, but made a circle with her tail and bloomed the tree.

No words can describe the amount of pretty I saw in those next 30 seconds. From our vantage point we could wee it all. I nearly passed out. Yeah, it was that awesome.

"Taka Pass is back to normal now!" Issun announced. "Without the cursed zone, it'll be easier to find brush techniques! But first, that big windmill has really piqued my interest. Didn't that half-baked prophet mumble something about it? Aw, whatever. It's not going anywhere, anyhow. Let's take a good look around Taka Pass, okay? I'm a bit worried about the people who live here."

"But the sun is setting." I pointed out.

"Okay, okay. Fine. We can explore tomorrow." Issun grumbled. "But where are we gonna sleep? It'll be harder now that you're not a wolf."

"I'm sure we'll be fine under the guardian sapling." Ammy said. She lay down next to the tree and I sat beside her. Issun jumped onto Ammy's head, like always.

"If you try anything, I swear I will cherry bomb you when you least expect it." I told him.

"Like I'd even try to." Issun said sarcastically.

"If I remember correctly, you were trying to flirt with me a little while ago.

"That was before I realized who you were." I just rolled my eyes. I waited until both Ammy and Issun were asleep, and then I took out my paintbrush. I waved it over my arm like I was trying to paint it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Waka appeared in front of me.

"That's the fourth time I've seen you today." I complained. "Can't you be a good little video game character and only appear when you're supposed to?"

"But what would be the fun in that?" He gave me a mischievous smirk. I picked up a rock that was near me and threw it at him, but he just caught it. Show off. "Someone is rather irritable today."

"Yeah. Because at first you were my favorite character in Okami, then you nearly killed me, then I was ticked off at you, then you helped with my broken arm, then you tried to fight me again, and now you're telling me not to speed up the healing process of my arm even though you admitted that I'm weak when I'm not a wolf."

"That was a rather large run-on sentence, don't you think?"

"Don't change the topic!" I snapped. "Seriously. Either have a reason, a good, valid reason to talk to me, or just go away. Because you're really starting to tick me off."

"Well, I was passing by and I saw you trying to use rejuvenation on your arm."

"Yeah? So?"

"That's not going to help speed the healing process."

"Well, I can still try."

Waka shook his head. "Your arm will heal soon enough. Sooner than you think. Don't rush it."

I sighed in defeat. "Fine. I won't try to heal my arm. But on one condition."

"And what would that be?"

"The next time I see you, it'll be at the Gale Shrine, with you stealing the Serpent Crystal from me and Ammy."

Waka smiled. "Of course. Au Revoir." And then he left and I was finally able to go to sleep.

* * *

><p>Celia: Why do you keep giving me self-esteem issues?<br>Charactor development and to keep you from becoming a mary-sue. Think of it like a shot to keep you from getting sick.  
>Celia: This coming from the person who hates shots with a burning passion.<br>Shut it. Anyways, read and review, please! I've got a lot more awesome potatoes and sugar cookies to go around! ^^


	12. How to save a life

And this chapter will signal the end of the horrible chapter names!  
>Celia: About time.<br>Shut it. And yeah, I felt so guilty for taking so long to update last time that, even though yesterday's chapter was huge, I typed out another chapter already. Just to warn you, it is a little on the short side. (For this fanfic, at least. 2k? -.- I feel ashamed.) But hey, at least it's a chapter. I don't remember how long the next chapter is, but I don't think it'll take me too long to type out. The chapter after that, however, is freaking huge and will probably take a little bit of time. Sorry in advance for that. Anyways, I'll stop being negative and focus on more happy things! Like reviews! Thanks to Clawfire,(and Yumi) Senom,(and Lilac), NeonGreenSheep,(and Kaladae) GreenTabbyCat,(and Tabitha) and Pixel(over PM, but it was still a review. And a very helpful one. Critique isn't a bad thing, kids!) for all reviewing! I really appreciate it! And here are some potatoes and cookies for ya! *hands out awesome potatoes and chocolate chip cookies* Disclaimer time!

Mrs. Cutter: Desi doesn't own Okami. She owns Celia. Now where's my food?  
>Here. *tosses creepy old lady a thanksgiving turkey* Stupid lazy characters making me bribe people to say the disclaimer. -.-<p>

Chapter 10-How to save a life

"Rise and shine!" I heard a voice say.

"Ugh." I felt something bouncing on my face. Once I realized who it was, I sat up instantly.

"Ow." Issun complained. "Didja hafta do that?"

"Well, I'm sorry that I don't like the first thing I wake up to to be a tiny pervert bouncing on my face." I stood up and stretched, but I was still drowsy.

"You can ride on me if you want." Ammy offered.

"Thanks." I said and got onto her back. But right before, Snarling Beast disappeared. "Where'd it go?"

"It'll come back when you get off Ammy's back." Issun explained. "Just like Swirling Lotus only appears in battle for you…well, sorta."

"What do you mean, sorta?"

"It's on a necklace."

"Wait, what?" I then noticed that, like Issun said, I was wearing a necklace. Swirling Lotus was the main charm and the rest of the beads were the Hurricane Beads. "Cool."

We went back the way we came from the day before, blooming some trees and feeding deer on the way. Then Ammy spotted something. Dang, I no longer had awesome wolf treasure-finding instincts. I'd have to rely on my memory to find treasures before Ammy.

"Hold on." Said wolf warned me.

"What do you m-ahhh!" I screamed as we went flying through the air and landed on a Konahana Blossom. I was trying to calm down and get over the shock. "A better warning next time, please?" Ammy just gave me a wolfish smirk and we continued on the path of Konahana Blossoms until we found a tiger statue and three clovers. Then we backtracked to the origin mirror, feeding some horses, foxes, and blooming another clover on the way. Oh, yeah. And Issun having a mental breakdown because of a flaming chest that we couldn't do anything about.

"So, what 20 landmarks do you want us to visit this time?" I asked.

"We didn't' look at 20 landmarks in Shinshu Field!" Issun protested. "And besides, those were useful spots to see!"

"Sure…"

"Let's just get rid of that demon gate first." Ammy stopped the argument.

"Fine by me."

"I guess." So we went and did that next. After 2 really dead fish and a pile of petals that _used_ to be a bud ogre…

"Oh crap, tigers!" I yelled.

"Calm down, they won't hurt you." Issun told me.

"In what world will a tiger not try to eat a human right in front of its face?"

"In physics-defying Nippon, as we have now dubbed it." Ammy answered.

"…I seriously need to learn to stop questioning these sorts of things."

"Yes, you do."

"Shut it, bug boy."

"Hey, hey, hey! Stop right there!" A voice told us.

"What now?" Issun and I snapped at the same time. (And in the same irritable manner)

"How dare you walk around our turf without permission?" I finally spotted the source of the voice-a giant mole with a blue bandana tied around his neck. "I won't let you get away with it! I'm Moley of the Molsters!" I tried to hold back the obvious comment in my mind. "All of the territory beneath Taka Pass is under our control. We can't just allow people to come wandering in as they please. How are we supposed to relax with intruders like you around?" Okay, this was a weird lecture. I had half a mind just to walk away. But I had a feeling it'd be useful for later, so… "I'll have to get you to leave some of that behind to make up for it."

"What the heck is he talking about?"

"No clue."

"You know what I mean."

"No, we really don't."

"That gold colored thing used in shops!"

"Huh? Oh, I get it…" It was a sad day when Issun figured something out before me and Ammy. "You're just a pack of thieves extorting money. Well, pigs'll fly before you shake us down! We should teach you a lesson!"

"Hah hah hah. You've got some nerve." The molester replied. (Yes, incorrect spelling intended) "Fine! If that's the way you want it. You'll regret this! Come on, men! Molsters! The special dust cloud formation!" Then they all started to pop up from holes in the ground. I just watched one hole, preparing to use powerslash if Moley appeared, while Ammy ran in circles, trying to hit him if he was close enough. This lasted about five minutes before we were finally able to hit him three times.

"I don't understand it!" Moley cried. "How do you manage to stand up to our special dust cloud trick?"

"We're just awesome like that."

"That answer's getting old."

"But I'll keep using it anyways."

"Had enough of hard-headed Ammy?" Issun asked Moley, completely disregarding the previous conversation/argument. "That'll teach you. Don't mess with the gods, fur face! Crime doesn't pay, remember that! I expect you guys to stay on the straight and narrow now!"

"I do know the difference between right and wrong. It's just that…well, I was lonely."

"And that drove him to steal money?"

"No matter how long I wait down here, no one has come to see me. That's why I behaved the way I did. I just wanted to get your attention, that's all. Please, white doggy! Will you be my friend?"

"Oh, come on! I'm even ignored when I'm human!"

"I promise I'll behave myself from now on. Honest! You're just what I need, doggy. If you stay, then I won't have to be lonely anymore!"

"Uh…this is gettin' strange by the minute." I silently agreed with Issun.

Moley started sobbing. "I know I shouldn't show my feelings like this. I'll go back underground now and shed my tears in private."

"Isn't that what started the problem?"

"I suppose it's goodbye, then. Come back and visit soon, won't you, doggy?" He tossed us the teacup, which I grabbed. Then we started to walk back towards the teacup's owner. But not before we were interrupted…

"Hey, Ammy. I'mma go get a treasure over there. I'll catch up."

"Just don't go getting yourself killed." Ammy joked.

"You're too paranoid." Then a vine pulled Issun away from us. Ammy and I continued walking, but a second later I heard Waka's voice in my head. _Issun will die if you are not there to save him…_my eyes widened in realization. I dropped the teacup and turned around, using the Konahana Blossom to save time. Once I was on a rooftop I heard a voice down below.

"What are you doing here, little bug?" I looked over the edge of the rooftop to see Mrs. Cutter staring at Issun with an evil glint in her eyes. "You may not be much of a meal, but I suppose you can be an appetizer." She started to close in on him. I jumped off the roof and stood in between Issun and Mrs. Cutter with my paintbrush raised.

"Over my dead body." I said through clenched teeth.

"Silver?"

"No, it's Ammy. Of course it's me, idiot!"

"Hmm, maybe you could hold us over until my husband finds more food."

"That's freaking cannibalism, woman!" I drew a cherry bomb in front of her, grabbed Issun, and made a mad dash to get outside of the yard. Once I was back on the main path, I slumped down against the cliff wall and let Issun out of my hand.

"Th-thanks." Issun managed to say after a minute.

"No problem." I replied even though I was breathing hard. My heard was pounding. Jeez, talk about a scare! I almost thought I'd be too late. I stood up. "C'mon, let's get back to Ammy." Issun bounced onto my shoulder and I decided not to protest. He nearly died; I'd give him a break just this once.

"Are you both okay?" Ammy asked us. "You followed after Issun pretty quick."

"Yeah, well, after one near-death experience I think we're both fine." I said nonchalantly.

"Near death experience?"

"Some psycho old lady wanted to eat us." Issun explained.

"And you're both acting like nothing happened?"

"We sat near the cliff for a few minutes to calm down."

"I'm still slightly freaked about the cannibalism thing. But other than that, I'm good."

"Uh huh." Ammy gave me a weird look. "Anyways…I think we've done everything we can in this section of Taka Pass. Oh, and we have enough praise to upgrade our solar energy or our purse."

"We should probably go with purse this time."

"Purse it is, then."

We followed the path and took a left after going over a small bridge. There was a sign that said Sasa Sanctuary was beyond the gate and it was open to kind-hearted people or something like that. We saw a person pushing a wall, but when we tried to talk to him, the wall disappeared. After a minute or two we figured to go back though and around the gate to talk to him.

"Huh. Pushing this wall's exhausting!" He said. _No freaking duh, Einstein _I wanted to say. But, of course, people could actually understand me now, so I had to keep my mouth shut.

I suddenly really wanted to be a wolf again.

"Ah, have you caught the scent of it, too?" The man asked.

"The scent of what?" I inquired.

"The scent of the secret place that only welcomes the good-hearted…the scent of Sasa Sanctuary!

"Wait, that place has a scent?"

"I can smell bamboo coming from that direction." Ammy told me.

"But there's bamboo all over Taka Pass." I pointed out.

The man didn't seem to notice my mysterious one-sided conversation at all. For once, _hooray for being ignored!_ "Everyone that tries to go there gets lost around here. But that gate there has to be a clue. This must be the place!"

"Should we tell him to go _through_ the gate?" I whispered the question.

"Nah." Issun replied in the same quiet voice. Yeah, I know. Issun being quiet? Le gasp!

I turned my attention back to the man when he began talking again. "And this is just between you and me, but…Sasa Sanctuary is where all the sparrows live, right? Well, I saw one of the young sparrow girls coming out of there!" Anyone else notice the fact that he was telling me something I already knew? "I'm sure the Sanctuary must be around here somewhere! I wonder where that little girl was heading off to…I hope she hasn't gone near that nasty old couple. But never mind that. I must find the entrance to Sasa Sanctuary!" The he continued to push the wall.

"Y'know…" Issun said. "If that sparrow girl _was_ captured by the old people, she's a goner for sure…"

"Well, let's just hope she isn't there, then." I felt bad, already knowing where Chun was and not being able to tell anyone. But we'd save her eventually. We went through the gate and down the pathway. There was a large sign that said 'Bamboo Village Sasa Sanctuary.'

"Mmm…don't ya just love the smell of bamboo?" Issun asked.

" I guess…" I shrugged.

"I know the scent of bamboo was stronger here." Ammy said in a slight 'I told you so' tone.

Wow, were we seriously all-for the most part-agreeing with each other?

…weird…

But cool!

…anyways…

"Looks like there's a road here."

"It took you that long to notice?"

"Let's just see where it takes us."

"Oh, I dunno, maybe Sasa Sanctuary?" I suggested sarcastically. Issun, not surprisingly, ignored the comment. We followed the path until we were stopped by a sparrow.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He chirped. "Hey, you! Scruffy and the human! What are you two doing in Sasa Sanctuary?"

The other sparrow joined in. "Skipping in here with those innocent looks on your faces…you have a lot of nerve for a wolf and a human!"

"Uhh…" Issun, Ammy, and I said at the same time.

"You know this is the heart of the Sparrow Clan, right? We can't just let you turn around and leave! Oh, no!"

"We'll tan your hides and send you packing!"

"Taking lessons from old man Kemu?" I heard Issun mutter, but I had no idea what he meant.

"Boss! Let this cocky mutt and human have it!" Then the wall turned around and we saw a freaking _huge _sparrow. "Hey! D'you even know who this is?" Yeah. "This is the mighty leader of the sparrow clan. That's right, the great Jamba!"

"Okay, boss! Take it away! They're all yours!" Jamba just chirped.

"Uh-oh!"

"The boss is…seriously angry!"

"How can they tell?"

"What the heck is going on here?" Issun asked.

"Listen up, you two! The boss's precious daughter's been kidnapped. And he's _mad._"

"We're doing all we can to find her. We've searched all over. No one's getting through that gate until she's safe and sound. So go on! Off with you!"

"Huh? They're not gonna let us in?"

"Does it sound like they're gonna let us in?"

"What was that about their boss's daughter being kidnapped?"

"Anyone else get the feeling it's the same sparrow girl the man outside the gate saw?" Ammy asked.

"Most likely." I confirmed. We bloomed a clover before leaving. Once we got back to Taka Pass, we just fed animals, bloomed trees, took down demon gates, y'know, the usual. Oh, yeah. And made sarcastic comments. Can't forget about those. Because our journey wouldn't be nearly as fun without them! And after that we were on our way to start the 'dog-gone difficult quest.'

* * *

><p>Here ya go. Two updates in two days. Happy birthday. (I don't care if it's your birthday or not, happy birthday anyways! XD)<p>

Celia: *stares at me strangely, then shakes head* Read and review, please.


	13. Finding the Kusa Five

Another chapter has come! :D Sorry that it took a while to type. I'm not even sure if I can consider it a long chapter...meh, it's 4k words, so I'll just say it is. But the reason is, not only has school started, but vollyball as well. It takes up most of my time now. I get 2 hours on the internet if I'm lucky, and next week we'll be starting the games, which gives me literally no free time. I'll try to type the next chapter on weekends, but I'm not sure when I'll get it posted. I just thought I'd warn you all of that. Now, time to reply to the annonymous reviewers' reviews! (Even though there's only one)

Senom, I'm sorry about the last title chapter name. If it means anything to you, I decided to look up the song on youtube. All I could remember was the chorus. And yet the song was stuck in my head for a few days straight anyways. And that is the perfect example of karma. And...are you okay after being shot twice in the head? O.O'  
>Celia: Issun will always be annoying. That's something I've already learned. And yeah, I couldn't keep that molester comment to myself. Molesters, canibals, what's next? -.- I blame Waka for pulling me into this.<p>

Okay, now that is done! Time to thank all of the reviewers. Thanks to GreenTabbyCat, Tabitha, Senom, Lilac, Lily, and Sayuri for all reviewing. I appreciate it! ^^ And here, have a cupcake. *hands out cupcakes*

Now, on with the chapter!

Celia: Desi owns me by soulbinding contract. Desi does not own Capcom. Desi will soon die for forcing me to sign that contract.  
>Wait, what? O.O<p>

Chapter 11-Finding the Kusa Five

As soon as we set foot in Kusa Village, everything turned darker. The air was hard to breathe and every step I took was harder and harder to take.

"Yikes!" Issun exclaimed. "What's this creepy evil atmosphere in this village?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe a creepy evil atmosphere?" I suggested.

"There's no cursed zone, but I definitely sense evil." I looked over at Ammy. She seemed to be suffering more than I was. Her legs were shaking. I was worried that she would collapse.

"Hey," I kneeled down next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I-I don't know." She confessed. At the same moment, she lost her divine instrument and crimson markings. I felt weaker, too. I knew my paintbrush probably wouldn't do squat now. _Great, now we're both out of ink and totally helpless._

"Does that answer your question?" I gave Issun an unamused look and flicked him off Ammy's head.

"Come on. Let's just take it slow." I suggested. Ammy nodded, and we both went forward, taking a quick stop to talk to the merchant.

"Of all the luck!" He said. "I wanted to do some trading over at the Gale Shrine. But it's been taken over by some monster and it's panic all around! Oh well. I suppose I'll just have to make the best of it for now. Do you want to do some shopping?" So we ended up buying the Infinity Judge, leaving us with pretty much no money!

"Why did we buy that again?" Issun whined. "It's totally useless!"

"It'll come in handy later. Stop complaining. We should concentrate on finding out what's up with this creepy atmosphere and get rid of it."

"Sure thing, mom." Issun grumbled.

I glanced over at Ammy. She was walking slowly, and very unsteadily. I felt really bad for her. I had it easy. She looked like she was going to fall over at any moment.

"Are you sure you can go on?" I asked her. She just gave me a small nod. "I think there's someone up ahead. Maybe they can help."

"How can they help?" Issun was skeptical.

"I don't know! I'm trying to be optimistic here, don't ruin it!" We continued onwards until we saw a girl in a pink and light blue Kimono. She looked like she had fallen and was trying to get back up, but she couldn't get off of her knees.

"Oh, this is most unfortunate." She said. "I have been possessed in a momentary lapse of vigilance! And I was trying so hard to defend this village…" Her voice was a whisper at that point. "Now it shall be reduced to a horrid cursed zone. Alas, my strength…it wanes. All is lost…" Then a blue imp revealed itself to be grabbing the girl. (no comment…) But the moment it spotted us, it attacked with two more green imps.

"What's the plan?" Issun asked Ammy.

"Why are you asking her?" I said in an annoyed tone.

"'Cuz she always makes the plans!"

"Well, if you haven't noticed, Ammy's out of the fight!"

"Okay, so now what?"

"Umm…" I willed myself to think of something. "Issun, go stab the blue imp's face. I'll take care of the green ones. When the blue one falls, I'll take it out." Issun jumped off of Ammy's head and I went to go kick some green imp butt without a paintbrush or divine instrument. So, pretty much just punching and kicking. Strangely enough, the green imps went down pretty quickly. Just in time for me to see the blue imp to fall to the ground and beat the living daylights out of it.

It was an interesting battle, to say the least.

Even more interesting, the air returned to normal and Ammy got her ink back after the fight was over. She gave me a smile, which I gladly returned.

"Huh?" The girl asked as she stood up. "Have I been freed from the evil curse?"

"Yup." I answered. "You're welcome."

"You have saved me, but I do not know how."

"What the heck happened, sweetness?" Issun questioned.

"Oh…are you familiar with my family, the Satomi House?"

I looked over at Ammy. "Are you?" She shook her head. "Issun?"

"Nope."

"Then no, none of us are. Sorry."

"Oh." The girl said. "Still, you may be of great service to me yet. Will you not listen to what I have to say?"

"You just keep talkin', pretty lady. Issun's listening!" She gave the poncle a weird look. I promptly flicked him off Ammy's head again.

"Just ignore him. He's a pervert." I told her. "But sure, we'll listen."

"Oh, thank you! I am Princess Fuse, priestess of the Gale Shrine." So that's why she seemed familiar… "The Gale Shrine stands atop Mount Kamiji. Kazegami, the god of wind, is enshrined there. The wind blowing down from there keeps the monsters away. Known as divine wind, it is venerated as our protector. However, it suddenly stopped blowing one day. And that has allowed the monsters to sneak into our village. Even I, the last remaining priestess here, was nearly slain. That horrible monster is behind all of this! It is Crimson Helm!"

"Not Crimson Something or Other?"

"No, Issun. Not Crimson Something or Other."

"The beast now dwells within the Gale Shrine. The monsters in this area have all been under Crimson Helm's control ever since he appeared in Taka Pass 100 years ago."

"This has been going on for 100 years?" Jawdrop courtesy of me.

"My people, the Satomi House, keepers of the Gale Shrine, have been battling the beast ever since…" She explained. "But last year, the fiends attacked and killed the head priest while he was weakened by sickness, and the Gale Shrine fell into their hands."

"I remember hearing that story. It was big news in these parts." Issun put in.

"If only I could vanquish Crimson Helm and free the Gale Shrine…but I am no match for the barrier that bars its entry. There is only one hope now. Only the warriors who serve the Satomi House can right this wrong! Our last hope for defeating Crimson Helm is the Satomi Canine Warriors! The Satomi Canine Warriors have protected the shrine and served the Satomi House for ages, but alas…they are now scattered throughout Nippon. If we could bring them together again, they could break the barrier and take the shrine."

"Really?" Issun asked. "Then why don't ya just summon those puppies on back?"

"I have already tried…but I have yet to receive any word of their coming. I sense their presence nearby, but have yet to find them. What if they were attacked and injured, or even worse…I beg you, would you please find out their whereabouts?"

"Sure." I answered.

"You might also find this useful…" The canine tracker started to float around us. "I sense five of the Satomi Canine Warriors here in this village. They're a temperamental bunch and don't take kindly to strangers, but they should return to me once they see the canine tracker. The canine tracker will guide you in their direction. Please use it, along with your strength, to find them!"

"Leave it to us, sweetness!" Issun said before I could answer. "We'll get 'em all back without a scratch!" Then he quietly added, "Can't wait to see how she thanks us! Heh heh heh…"

"Ammy?" I looked over at said wolf. She read my mind and nodded.

"Sure."

"Wait, what are you two pl-" Issun didn't get to finish his sentence before he was in Ammy's mouth. "Let me out!" He yelled. Ammy looked at me.

"Yeah, you can spit him out."

"When will you two stop doing that?" Issun's glow was red.

"When the journey is over." I shrugged.

"I hate you, you know that?"

"Yes, I am aware."

"So where should we look first?" Of course, Ammy is the one to try to break up the argument.

"Just follow me." I said as I spotted a Konahana Blossom. I used vine to get to the wooden pathway above us.

"Oh, so you're master of the canine warriors now?" Issun questioned.

"No, that would be Princess Fuse. Although I'm positive that if we just explore the place like we normally do, we'll find them."

After feeding some chickens and going into a small cave in the cliff wall, (It actually took a while for me to get in, it was pretty high. Ammy only had to jump to make it inside. I, on the other hand, had to jump to get a good grip on the edge and use all my strength to pull myself up.) the canine tracker started spazzing out. Then it hovered over a cute dog with a purple bandana. He was so cute and fluffy, I just had to pet him.

"What's a dog doing here?" Issun asked.

"Trying to hide from you. But he failed." I couldn't help but say. I'm guessing it earned me a glare.

"Wait, I think he's trying to say something! Let me listen carefully. I can understand some animals…"

"Yeah, well, as much as I appreciate you at least _trying _to be helpful, Ammy's a wolf and I can understand animals, so your translation isn't needed."

"Fine then. Don't let me help you."

"I'll do that."

"Hey, it's wagging its tail! Bet it's that canine tracker we have!"

"What happened to not helping? Even though that _was_ useless…" Ko just barked to get our attention.

"Hm? What's that?"

"Give me some food, I'm hungry." Ko whined.

"Sheesh…we just met and it's begging for food? What terrible manners!"

"You're talking about him like he's not here? And you say he has terrible manners." I kneeled down and gave him some meat. "Here you go, fella." Ko ate the food like he had been starved or something. "Who knows how long he's been in here, Issun? Have some compassion."

"I will once he gets some manners." I just rolled my eyes.

"I am full." Ko said. "My master, Princess Fuse, has summoned me. However, I didn't want to go straight home."

"You hear that?"

"Yes, I did."

"I was talkin' to Ammy."

"Then refer to her."

"Whatever. But this dog must be one of those Satomi Canine Warriors!"

"Yay, he figured something out in less than a minute. It's a monumental occasion."

"…shut up."

"Now that my stomach is full, I will return to my master." Ko told us.

"You hear that?" _Yes, we did, Issun!_ Ko ran off. "The way Princess Fuse talked about them, I thought they were human."

"They're called Satomi _Canine_ Warriors for a reason."

"I have to agree with Celia."

"Thank you, Ammy."

"But do you really think these fleabags are gonna be any help?"

"Haven't you learned by now that we always have to do everything by ourselves?"

"Hm…lemme see…nope! Now let's get movin'!" I rolled my eyes once again as we continued onwards, finding some glass bead on the way. We passed a (slightly dead) flower garden when the canine tracker decided to spaz out again, this time hovering over the withered flowers. Issun stupidly didn't notice, (typical) but Ammy did. She filled in the dead grass with rejuvenation, and a dog appeared.

"What's a dog doing here?"

"Didn't you already ask that?"

"It's wagging its tail, too. Must be that canine tracker we have!"

"Will you quit repeating things?" Of course, Shin didn't help the situation at all by barking.

"Give me some food, I'm hungry." Shin demanded.

"Sheesh…why do these fleabags think we're gonna feed them?"

"Oh, I dunno…maybe because they can smell the meat feedbags we have? Nah, that's a crazy idea." I said sarcastically after I gave Shin some food.

"I am full. Now that my stomach is full, I will return to my master."

"You hear that?"

"Yes, we have good enough hearing to hear what he said, Issun!" Shin ran off while I was yelling.

"Can you believe these guys?" I just decided to ignore Issun this time. We went down the other path and ran into…

…a sleeping Susano. Can life get any more predictable?

…oh, wait, I knew it would happen. Riiight…

"Uh…ah…" Susano mumbled in his sleep. "No, no…not that…by the gods, I vow to…you won't ever…"

"Hm? It's Susano!" Issun announced.

"Great observation skills there."

"He's one tenacious dude. Wonder what he's doing here."

"Uh, sleeping? Like he does everywhere else?"

"I bet he's having a nightmare about getting his butt kicked by monsters." Understatement? "He seems rather frantic. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad…"

Susano suddenly woke up. "That dream again! Is there no escape? I thought that by coming to the village-"

"Hey there, pops!" Issun interrupted. "Floundering around in your dreams, too? Must be nice to be able to nap in the middle of the day like that. Greatest warrior ever, my foot!"

Susano turned around to face us. "Hm? Poochie? And little bug? And…" Oh. Human form. Right…

"I'm Celia." I introduced myself.

"Oh. Uh…" He coughed. "Here to disturb my meditation again?"

"If by meditation you mean sleep, then yes, they are."

"Hey, you're traveling with us!" Issun said.

"Regretfully…"

Susano tried to cover up his blunder. "Yes, well…even in my dreams, I'm hard at work devising strategies for defeating that Crimson Something or Other." I kept my mouth shut about the name. "I came here to pray for victory at the Gale Shrine, but…lo and behold, that Crimson Something or Other occupies the shrine!" Yeah, how's that working out for ya? "Well, with my invincible sword," Invincible, yet made of wood. "There's no need to pray, but mankind's fate rests with me!" No, if it did, we'd all be screwed. "I must be prepared. First, I must sit here and come up with a well thought out plan." Riiight…he laid back down. "Now…where was I?"

"Plan? Yeah, right! That's just your excuse to sleep!" Issun said.

"Oh, so you just figured that out now? Seriously, Issun. Get something to train your brain, it needs some work."

"Offensive." Issun managed to say before Ammy jumped over the fence behind Susano and bloomed a clover.

"Yeah, does it look like I care?" I asked when they both came back to my side of the fence. We soon came to another high area we had to go to. Luckily for me, there was a ladder I could use. Ammy still got to the top before I did, though, blooming a clover while she waited.

"You're even slower than you were as a wolf." Issun complained once I got to the top.

"Yeah, well, you're just going to have to deal with it." I told him. "Unless you wanna just leave now. I mean, I'd be perfectly fine with that."

"You tryin' to get rid of me?"

"I can only wish."

"I'm not leavin' till we get all the brush techniques."

"Then I hope we find them soon."

"Nah. At this rate, you'll be stuck with me for a month…"

"Not if I commit suicide before then."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't."

"You obviously don't know me that well then, because I have come close."

"But you didn't."

_Yeah, to save your life! _I bit my tongue to keep myself from responding.

"I win." Issun said smugly after a minute of silence. That little freaking…

"I'm back." Ammy announced.

"You were gone?" I asked in confusion.

"To go talk to Komuso."

"Didja learn anything?" Issun inquired.

"Yeah. It takes 15 seconds for me to kill 2 dead fish and red imps."

"Well," I interrupted. "The canine tracker is spinning around the crack in the wall, so who wants to cherry bomb it?"

"Me!" Issun yelled. A cherry bomb appeared and blew a hole in the Cliffside.

"And that's all he'll ever be good for."

"What?"

"Nothing." We went into the newly made cave to find a dog, presumably a canine warrior…ah, who am I kidding? Of course it was a canine warrior.

"What's a dog doing here?" You know who said it. "It's wagging its tail, too. Must be that canine tracker you have!" Rei barked. "Hm? What's this?"

"Give me some food, I'm hungry."

"Sheesh…why do these fleabags think we're gonna feed them?" I face/palmed, but gave Rei some meat.

"I am full…now that my stomach is full, I will return to my master." He ran off.

"Ya hear that?" I flicked Issun off Ammy's head.

"Let's make a getaway before he recovers." Ammy nodded, and we quickly exited the cave and started down the path. Sadly, Issun caught up.

"Tryin' to leave me behind?"

"Yes, we are. But unfortunately, you always come back no matter what we do." Before Issun could reply, an old man we didn't notice at first started talking to us.

"What a pickle I'm in…hm? Oh, what a cute wolf you have."

"Oh. Thanks." I smiled at him. Ammy gave me a questioning look. "Just go along with it." I whispered, and she nodded.

"I'm in quite a pickle right now. I'm a craftsman and I work with bamboo, as you can see. But I can't get any work done right now. Oh, I shouldn't burden you with my problems…"

"Boy, that must be some big pickle if you're confiding in a wolf and a teen!" Issun commented. Mr. Bamboo stared at him.

"Oh. This is my pet…uh…sprite."

"Sprite?"

"It's a step up from bug, be thankful."

"Hello there, little sprite. Are you all here to listen to an old man ramble?"

"Sure, why not?" I shrugged.

"I always gathered bamboo over in Sasa Sanctuary in Taka Pass. But I haven't been able to get in there lately. The Sparrow Clan suddenly closed the entrance to Sasa Sanctuary. Oh, how I do wish I could craft my bamboo ware…to make matters worse, the festival's just around the corner. I usually sell my work then, but I'm running out of time."

"Aw…it ain't the end of the world, gramps!" Issun tried to cheer him up. Then, in a quieter voice, he added "What've we gotten ourselves into now?" I ignored Issun's attitude and decided to try to find the next canine warrior.

"I think there's something glowing near Mr. Bamboo's house."

"Great. Go check it out yourself."

"Why? You're afraid of a tiny light?"

"What? No! C'mon, Ammy! Let's go!" I laughed to myself. That was way too easy. I powerslashed the glowing bamboo when we got close, and there was a cute fluffy dog sleeping in it. The sound of the bamboo falling to the ground was enough to wake her up and she jumped out of the stump.

"What's a-" I flicked Issun off Ammy's head again. I was _not_ going to hear this speech _again._

"I'm hungry." Chi whimpered. I gave her some food. "I am full…now that my stomach is full, I will return to my master." She predictably ran off.

"And, yes, we heard that, Issun." I told him.

"Okay, okay. I get it. Hey, Ammy, how many of those canine warriors does this make?"

"Four, I believe." She answered.

"Yup. Four." I justified. "Ko, Shin, Rei, and Chi."

"Maybe we should go talk to Princess Fuse now." Oh, this would be fun. I just hoped we wouldn't have too hard of a time with this. We took Issun's advice and went back to Princess Fuse's house, and guess who we ran into?

The fifth canine warrior, Tei. AKA the one who likes to fight people. Yeah…

"Hey, Ammy. That fleabag's giving you the evil eye." Issun told her.

"I think I can see that." She replied.

"Right now I'm thankful it's not me." I commented.

"I think it noticed that canine tracker ya got there."

"Issun, who wouldn't notice a random flying…thing spinning around a wolf and a human?" Tei barked at us. Unlike the last four canine warriors, this one was much more threatening.

"Hm? What's that?"

"My master, Princess Fuse, has summoned me." Tei said. "But first, I wish to try out the skills I've honed on my journey."

"You h-"

"Yes, we heard him, Issun!"

"Princess Fuse forbids me to join in fruitless battles, but I want you to prove your right to bear the Canine Tracker!"

"Why you-! You've got a lotta nerve picking a fight with us! Well, bring it on, ya fleabag! Right, Furball?"

Ammy looked over at me. "You might want to stay out of this one." I guess I _did _fight Waka by myself…so I nodded. "Okay, I'll fight."

"Yep, there was only one right answer! I dunno who this fleabag thinks he is, but he's in for a surprise!"

Tei started off by preparing to charge at Ammy. She powerslashed him, which stopped him from attacking. Then it was her turn. And the Infinity Judge proved its worth! Tei was even stunned, giving Ammy a perfect chance to powerslash him and do some more damage. He prepared to charge again, but Ammy just countered as she did last time. She used a steel fist sake and absolutely kicked Tei's sorry butt. It was quite entertaining to watch, actually. He finally gave up, jumping away from Ammy.

"A worthy opponent, I see. Let us fight where we have more room!" Tei challenged.

"You hear that, Ammy? Sounds like fun! This time we'll be playin' for keeps! Bring it on, fleabag! You're gonna wish you went straight back to Princess Fuse when we're done with ya! Hey, wait, if he's been summoned by the princess, then…maybe this is another one of the Satomi Canine Warriors!"

"Okay, have you seriously not known for this long? Or are you purposely trying to drive me mad?"

"I'm done toying with you. Now you shall feel the wrath of the Satomi Power Orb!"

"Satomi Power Orb? Bah, bring it on, dog breath! We ain't afraid!"

"Oh, Tei?" We all looked behind said dog and saw Princess Fuse, along with the other four canine warriors we had found. Tei ran up to her. "I thought I heard something out here. You two aren't fighting, are you?"

"Huh? Fighting? Oh, ah, of course not!" Issun tried to cover it up.

"They got in a small scuffle. But they're both okay." I told her.

"Well, at least now we have five of the Satomi Power Orbs. But you've been naughty doggies!" All five dogs hung their heads in shame and whimpered. I felt kinda bad for them. "Why did you not come here immediately when I summoned you?"

"Hey, Princess, what's with these Satomi Power Orbs?" Issun asked.

"Each Satomi Canine Warrior bears an orb of different virtue. The Satomi Power Orbs are the Satomi House's greatest treasure. I need the orbs' power to break Crimson Helm's barrier. But the canine warriors never listen when I summon them back! And three of them have yet to be accounted for! I fear something may have happened to them. But there is no one I could send out to help them…" She looked at the three of us.

"Hey, what's with that look, lady?" I flicked Issun off Ammy's head for, what was it, the fifth time?

"We'd be happy to help." I smiled.

"Wonderful! I'll be forever grateful! I know the general locations of the remaining three canine warriors. I shall mark them on your map." I handed her the map and she gave it back after taking a few seconds to paint on it. "You have the canine tracker. They shall return home once you have shown it to them. That is, if they have not been injured or even worse…please, hurry. We must get the power orbs and break the barrier!"

"We'll find them all, don't worry." I assured her. We left the village and decided to look at our map once we were in Taka Pass.

"Okay, so there's one in Kamiki…" Ammy said.

"One in Agata…" Issun continued.

"And one in Sasa Sanctuary." I finished.

"I vote we find the one in the Agata Forest first." Issun stated.

"Uh, no. We're going to Sasa Sanctuary first. It's the closest." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but we can't go in without the missing sparrow girl."

"Well then, it looks like we're gonna find ourselves a sparrow."

"Where should we look?" Ammy asked.

"You're going along with it, too?" Issun whined.

"Yes, I am. It's the logical place to start."

"Well, I think the creepy old people are the ones behind her disappearance."

"If they are, then she's probably dead by now. We should just give up."

"She might still be alive." Ammy said. "They may have taken her recently and are holding her captive."

I nodded. "Exactly."

"How are we gonna get to her, then?" Issun questioned.

"I think it's time to stage a bird rescue…"


	14. Get ready for a rant

Okay, this needs to be adressed. Because I know it's happening to more authors than just me, and I'm getting tired of this. WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE REVIEW ANYMORE? Coem on, I know at least 40 people have read the latest chapter. An author knows when they have readers. In case you don't have an account and don't know this, there's this cool little thing called traffic stats. It tells us how many people have been reading our stories and chapters. You know, I'm getting ticked off here. Think about it this way-if you are too lazy to take a few minutes out of your day to type something that could just be as simple as 'Great story!' then we authors certainly have the right to be lazy and not type our chapters. Now, I know that some people who are reading this aren't users on here and some of you haven't even writen anything except for school assignments, but here's some news for you: Writing takes hard work and time. We are working our butts off for you people to have a form of entertainment when you get home from school, collage, work, whatever. The perfect example is when I typed the last chapter. Although it _was_ a Saterday, I have to go to church on Sunday, which means I have a bed time. I've recently been getting into playing Paper Mario 2 and I'm at what I hope will be my favorite level. I knew I had to type a chapter for OACA, so I decided to bribe myself with the promise of getting to play the game after I was finished typing. I finished, I kid you not, _two minutes _before my bedtime. And I still haven't been able to play it because I've been so busy with vollyball lately. (Because once the games start, your life practically ends until the season is over.)

But anyways, the main point I'm trying to get across is this: Review! Review! Review! It drives authors mad when we waste our time and energy on something we don't even get feedback for. And don't just review my story. Review all the others you read! People who don't have an account, you don't have an excuse unless the story you're reading requires that you be logged in to review. I'm not setting a required amount of reviews like I did last time. Because I've realized that doesn't work. There will just be a burst of reviews for that one chapter and then you'll all go back to hiding in the shadows. So here's what I'm going to say: If you want chapters, you give reviews. If I don't think you're reviewing enough, I'll wait until I get enough to continue. I've already got a set amount in my head that I want each chapter, but I'm not going to tell you all. Just review, okay? That is all I ask.

*takes a deep breath and then exhails* Well, that was quite a long rant. And I just want to say sorry to Senom, since she is the only one who reviewed on the last chapter. And here is a cookie for doing so. *hands cookies out to Senom, Lilac, Lily, and Sayuri*

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going on a much deserved break. *jumps into the review hiatus bandwagon and grabs a gamecube controller*


	15. Power orb collecting

I'M SORRY FOR THIS UPDATE BEING HORRIBLY DELAYED. PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME.  
>First I went on hiatus, then I was being lazy, and then I realized this chapter was longer than I remembered. This took me quite a few hours to type up. I mean, I decided to work on it today when I was uploading something on youtube and the upload finished before I was done typing. AND THE UPLOAD TOOK 3 HOURS. Yeah. This chapter is 10k words. I can't tell if that means I'm a fast or slow typer...<p>

Anyways! Time to hand out cookies, awesome potatoes, and golden peach pie! Avitala, Dragginninja, Pixelated Firefly, TheManWithBacon, Clawfire, Yumi, Greentabbycat, (the annonymous reviewer), Senom, Sayuri, Lily, Lilac, NeonGreenSheep, Kalade, Markrock18, Magicfeline, Antonia Ivanevna Braginski, Beserkians fury, Okami Saphira, StormofRoses, Hakura, and Rainbow Guppy. Senom, Sayuri, Lily, Lilac, and Rainbow Guppy get two of whatever they choose because they made more than one review and MagicFeline also gets another cookie because they guessed one of the questions right in the Hana Valley chapter. *looks back at list of reviewers* What the-wow, the power of the threat of a hiatus and laziness combined...just...wow... I think I really have to say this now. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Seriously. That just boosted my self-esteem a ton. And I just feel like I should say this now after re-reading some of the reviews: I promise you all that I will never abandon this story. I WILL finish it. The only exception is if I die or some other dramatic thing like that happens. Which I doubt it will before I'm done with this.

Anyways, now that all of that is out of the way, disclaimer time! I own Celia, but I don't own Okami. Simple as that.

Chapter 12- Power Orb Collecting

It was a perfect night. Cool, but not too cold. The wind wasn't blowing at all. All the animals were sleeping. There was nothing stopping our plan.

"I still don't understand why you decided to use war paint or whatever." Issun complained in a silent voice. The 'war paint' he was talking about was just in the pattern of what football players sometimes use, nothing that special. But then again, I was in ancient Japan, so I guess no one really knew what football was.

"Because I can and it helps set the mood." I replied in a hushed tone.

"We're saving a sparrow from old people, not invading Orochi's stronghold!"

"Whatever. Just follow me." I walked up to a broken piece of wood leading to an attic that was missing a wall. There was a hole in the floor, pathetically blocked off by a few pieces of plywood. I signaled to Ammy and she came up the ramp, cherry bombing the wood and leaving a giant hole. We jumped down it and fell into the house. I just strolled up to talk to the lady while Ammy stayed out of sight. No need to have to rescue her as well as Chun. (If the Cutters actually managed to capture her in the first place.)

"Hey! What are you doing back here again?" Mrs. Cutter asked. "You've got some nerve, coming into people's houses like this."

I shrugged. "It's kinda like a hobby for me." Yeah, because that's not stalker-ish at all! Then again, I was talking to a cannibal, so I guess she didn't even give a crap.

"You wouldn't even make a decent snack. You're much too scrawny."

"I'm just going to take that as a compliment."

"My husband's caught a nice tasty beast for us to feast on, anyway. When it's finally stopped tweeting, we can dig in." I shared a concerned look with Ammy, who was still hiding in the shadows. "Heh heh heh! I can hardly wait!" She looked at the spot in the house where the moon was shining, thanks to the hole in the roof. "The moon's very bright again tonight, isn't it? Moonlight can be a real nuisance for us, you know. It seems to give us strange powers and makes us show our true colors, so it makes it hard for us to keep up a pretense of normal life. And we get so hungry on nights like that, too. Heh heh heh!"

Without warning, I pushed the old lady over, and Ammy jumped out of her hiding spot to drag her into the moonlight. An extremely creepy and disturbing shadow appeared on the wall behind her, and she started acting weird.

"Aaargh! You saw me! You saw me!"

"Uh, yeah. You're pretty ugly, by the way." Ammy told her. I smiled, despite the scary atmosphere. I would've high-fived her if she wasn't a wolf.

"Wh-where'd that shadow come from?" Issun asked in fear, turning my short moment of joy into one of annoyance. He should've seen it coming, after all. "It ain't human, whatever it is!"

"So you saw me…now I'm going to kill you! I'm going to eat you all up!"

"Bring it on! Come out and fight!" I challenged, turning around and running out of the house with Ammy on my heels. I looked back to see, not to my surprise, that the Cutters had followed us. And then the couple turned into…bird-like monsters? Oh well, they looked easy enough to beat. Ammy took Mr. Cutter and I got Mrs. Cutter because…well, I still hated her for trying to kill my (extremely annoying and stupid) friend. I powerslashed her out of the air and tried to attack with my weapon, but she blocked it with her sword. I powerslashed that, and then took advantage of the moment by spamming the attacks until she died. Ammy and I finished our fights at the exact same time. Mrs. Cutter's basket appeared in front of us, and guess who fell out of it?

Okay, if you couldn't figure out that it was Chun, you need to work on your video game logic.

The sparrow girl chirped. "Oh, it was so awful being locked away by those monsters! It feels wonderful to be free again. Thanks so much. Let me pet you, doggy."

"She _does _realize I helped too, right?"

"Yeah, but you're not a wolf anymore like Ammy."

"Point made."

"My name's Chun, precious flower of the Sparrow Inn!" She introduced, looking at us cutely. Jeez, I never thought I'd say this, but Chun was absolutely adorable face-to-face.

"Is this the girl the boss of the Sparrow Inn was looking for?" Issun wondered aloud.

"D'ya think, Issun? Put all the pieces together and tell us when you figure out the answer."

Chun interrupted the poncle right before he was going to start up some long argument with me, and I smirked inwardly. "I'd better get home otherwise pop will be worried about me. But…if I go alone, those monsters might catch me again. Would you come back with me to Sasa Sanctuary?"

"Bah, this brat's a handful!" Issun complained.

"Issun!" I scolded. Then, in a softer voice, I said "Sure, Chun. We'll go with you."

Chun was quiet for a minute, then turned to Issun. "Stuuupid!" This time I couldn't keep my smile inside. I officially loved this little sparrow girl.

"Why you little…!"

"Come on, let's go!" She chirped, flapping her tiny wings and making slow progress towards the bamboo sanctuary. Ammy and I patiently walked behind. After all, I wasn't going to complain to anyone who could tick Issun off. Minus Waka.

"Hey, hey, hey!" One of the sparrows said once we had made it to the front gate. "What are you doing in Sasa Sanctuary?"

"Everyone is on high alert. No one gets through this gate until the boss's daughter's found." Then he noticed the sparrow traveling with us. "Huh? Ch-Chun?"

"Hi! I'm back!" Chun said innocently. I will say this again- SO FREAKING CUTE!

"Chun! Are you okay?"

"Boss! Boss! She's back! Chun's back!" Then Jamba appeared. Well, obviously. I mean, his daughter was missing. You'd think that he'd want to see her after that.

"Pop! Pop!" The sparrow girl flew up to Jamba and started bouncing on his belly. "I'm sorry, pop! I won't go out on my own again!" He just chirped in response.

"Uh-oh!"

"The boss is…delighted!"

"You sure about that?" Issun asked skeptically.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Issun for once."

"This white doggy and his owner saved me. You'll give them something to thank them, won't you?" Jamba chirped, not once, but _twice!_ Gasp! Then he raised his wings and the door to the building opened.

"The boss has accepted you. You're lucky."

"Okay, then! You'd all better come inside!" After finding a stray bead, feeding some birds, feeding even more birds, and using sunrise for no apparent reason, we did just that.

And we were instantly greeted by a random sparrow. "Welcome to the Sparrow inn! We welcome all sorts of customers here. Humans and animals alike. Customers are customers, after all. We do our best to please all!"

Ammy and I ended up exploring the inn. Sadly, we only found a few mice to feed in the main room. Although we _did _go through all the other rooms…

Furthest room to the left-

Fed some mice. Ate some watermelon. Talked to Komuso. Called paranoid. (Who could blame us? We were talking to _Komuso_, after all.) Met a very curious sparrow. That's about it.

Closest room to the left-

Got a stray bead from a dotima. Studied a board game. Ate sasa fruit. Ate sasa cake. Ate sasa eggrolls. Sold glass beads. Bought steel fist sake. Left room.

Furthest room to the right-

Met a thankful sparrow girl. Ate sasa hotchpotch. Ate sasa dumplings. Ate sasa crab. Ate sasa fish. Ate sasa rice. Ate sasa meat. Wondered why all the food had the prefix 'sasa'. Looked at a koto. Talked to a guest who thought he was being treated better because he saved a sparrow a long time ago. Kept our mouths shut that he was.

Closest room to the right-

Walked into an empty room. Complained that the room was empty. Left the room to its emptiness.

After that, we went into the elevator to see Jamba. Much to the disappointment of Issun, we ignored the 10 treasure chests in the room for the time being and went to talk to the sparrows first. I had to grab Issun to make sure he wouldn't open the chests.

"We've been waiting for you!" One sparrow said.

"You did a great job finding Chun. We wanna thank you, too."

"It was actually kind of fun." I told them.

"Fun, my foot." Issun grumbled. I dropped him on Ammy's head.

"Stay."

"I'm not your pet."

"I don't care. Stay anyways."

Chun started to speak. "When I told pop about everything you did, he was really surprised. Weren't you, pop?" Of course, he responded with a simple chirp.

"Uh-oh!"

"The boss is…very impressed with you!" I swear, I could just feel the annoyance radiating from Issun.

"We want to give you everything in these baskets as a reward! You can rest at the inn down below. And the hot spring behind the inn is great for relaxing!" So we got all the treasures (exorcism slip s, vase, steel fist sake, dragonfly bead, steel soul sake, glass beads, traveler's charm, wooden bear, holy bone s, and a coral fragment) before leaving to visit the bathhouse.

Sadly, the only thing we found in the bathhouse was a dried up pool of water and a sparrow dancing with torches in his hands…er, wings.

"E-excuse me! Wait a minute, please! This is Sasa Bathhouse, Sparrow Inn's famous natural hot spring."

"…still has the prefix 'sasa'."

"But I'm afraid the water's run out. We're closed at the moment."

"Whaddya mean there's no hot water? This is a hot spring, ain't it?" Issun questioned.

"It happened the other day. There was a sort of earthquake. I thought I heard a monster roar. Then the water just stopped flowing all of a sudden."

"Earthquake and a monster roar?"

"Orochi." I stated, beating Issun to it.

"Ever since then I've been praying for the water to return." The sparrow told us. "But it's not showing any signs of springing up again. Never before in the history of Sasa Bathhouse has this happened! I'm so sorry you've come all this way only to be disappointed. I blame myself! I must beat myself with my own fried drumsticks!"

"…what the heck?"

"Hey, cut that out! We don't like taking baths anyway!" I gave Issun a weird look.

"I've prayed and prayed and prayed, but the water still won't flow. This is it! The end of Sasa Bathhouse!"

"He says it like it's the end of the world."

"It's dried up now! What would my ancestors think? Beating myself with my own fried drumsticks will be a fitting end!"

"This dude has some issues."

"I already told ya! We don't take baths! Right, you two?"

"Speak for yourselves!" I said.

"Well, I'm a wolf." Ammy pointed out.

"Okay, that's a valid excuse. But Issun, that's disgusting!"

"Oh, the smell of this bamboo sure brings back memories." We all turned to see Mr. Bamboo. "The bamboo from Sasa Sanctuary smells like no other! I can't wait to get started making my bamboo ware. I must finish in time for the festival.

"Hey, it's the old bamboo dude!" Said old bamboo dude walked over to us.

"Oh, hello wolfy, little sprite…" He stopped, and I realized I had never told him my name.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Celia." I told him.

"Oh. Well, thank you for all your help."

"No problem." I gave him a smile.

"Ever since you found the sparrow boss's missing daughter, entry to Sasa Sanctuary is possible again. I wish I could thank you all somehow…is there something you're having trouble with?"

"Trouble? Nah…" I flicked Issun off Ammy's head.

"This sparrow wants the spring to be refilled, and we want to help him."

"No, leave me alone." The sparrow protested. "I have to put things right. I won't set a bad example for the others. If I sacrifice my flesh, the spring will be revived!" He started to burn his head.

"Here we go again…" Issun complained.

"Okay, quit that!" I swatted the drumsticks out of his wings. He stared at me dumbly.

"You wish to revive this dried-up hot spring?" Mr. Bamboo asked. "I may be of some assistance in that case."

"Wh-what was that?" Now the sparrow was looking dumbly at Mr. Bamboo. Did he burn some of his brain?

"This bamboo tube on my back reacts to underground minerals. I should be able to easily detect where the hot spring water is."

"Isn't that convenient?"

"You sure about that, gramps?"

"Yep. My bamboo ware never lies. First, I'll need some help. Now be a good wolfy and dig me a hole." He told Ammy, who stared at him incredulously. "It'll be fun, like a game!" She looked at me. Why was she looking at me?...oh, yeah. I was supposed to be her owner…riiight…

"I'm not stopping you." I shrugged. Ammy looked at Mr. Bamboo and nodded.

"Thank you! Both of you!" The sparrow said. Then Mr. Bamboo started to explain the digging game. I wasn't listening. Well, Ammy was going in without me, so why bother? I grabbed Issun off her head right before she and Mr. Bamboo jumped into the hole.

"Hey! Lemme go!" He yelled, totally over-reacting.

"I don't wanna sit here alone while I wait. Ammy can do this by herself. It's a _digging _minigame. She's a wolf."

"Can you at least put me down?" I opened my hand and Issun fell to the ground. "Thanks." He said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." I gave him an innocent smile, then sat down next to a random rock. Issun bounced up onto my shoulder, but I decided not to flick him off this side.

"What? No 'get off my shoulder'? No flicking me off? No nothin'?" Issun asked in a surprised manner.

"Nope." I replied, staring at the rock in front of me.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sick?"

"No."

"Injured?"

"Other than my broken arm, no."

"Tired?"

"No."

"Then why aren't you being mean to me?"

"You sound disappointed." I commented. "What, do you like our arguments or something?"

"No…yes…maybe…it's just weird for you not to be verbally attacking me."

"Verbally attacking you? You've gotta be kidding me. They're arguments, and you seem to enjoy them as much as I do."

"You enjoy them?"

I froze. That was not the right thing to say. "I dunno. I guess they're sort of fun…" I felt my cheeks getting warm, then quickly added "But only a little. Which friends don't argue?"

"A) We argue excessively, and B) you consider me a friend?"

"Would I have saved your life yesterday if I didn't?"

"True…but I thought you hated my guts."

"You're annoying as heck, but I don't hate you." Before Issun could respond, Ammy and Mr. Bamboo shot out of the hole on a water geyser and the spring quickly filled up.

"Water! Water!" The sparrow cheered. "The water's flowing again!" Ammy and Mr. Bamboo landed on the ground.

"See? I told you. My bamboo ware never lies!"

"Well done, Ammy!" Issun jumped onto her head, totally forgetting the previous conversation.

"Thank you! Both of you! I'll never forget this! You both have free access to the bathhouse whenever you want!" Mr. Bamboo cheered. Ammy gagged. "Oh, I'll dance the hot spring hop forever more!" He started dancing. But while he was doing that, starlight started to shine on us.

"Look! It's happening again!" Issun said. Ammy and I looked up at the sky to see a constellation that had to have, not two, but three stars filled in! Scary! But we managed to make the starts without any serious injuries had. Yay.

A snake in a glass ball rolled down to us as the scenery changed. She tried two or three times to get out of the ball, but epically failed to say the least. Ammy woke up when the other goddess started speaking. (Yes, Ammy fell to sleep. Predictable, huh?)

"Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…I have remained hidden here, creeping along the water's surface. I, Nuregami, goddess of water, am happy to bestow upon you my power. Moisten the thirsty earth and restore the glory of nature!" Another brush technique in the bag.

"Nuregami? Oh, that's the god of water." Issun told us. "That must mean you got the waterspout brush technique!"

"Ouch! Hot, hot, hot!" I just realized that while we were gone, the sparrow managed to set himself on fire. I knew we shouldn't have left him alone with those drumsticks for too long… "Fire! I'm on fire! No! The fried drumsticks were a bad idea!"

"Lucky for you, Ammy and Silver need some practice. Okay, try to put out that fire with the power of waterspout! Waterspout is a brush technique that harnesses the power of water." No freaking duh. "Put your brush over the water, and then draw a line to the sparrow. The water will pass into the line, creative a stream! But enough talk. You'd better try it before he becomes a crispy critter." No sooner were the words out of Issun's mouth than Ammy had extinguished the fire. "Excellent! No fried sparrow for us, but at least we can make a stream! But the power of waterspout doesn't stop there. See that bubbling water in the middle of the hot spring? That's called a power spring. Water power is concentrated there. If you draw a line straight up from that bubbling water, I bet you can create an amazing column of water!" And since Ammy practiced last time, I make the stream this time. "That's what I'm talking about!" Issun cheered. "Now you can control power springs!" Ammy made a _huge _jump to the top of the power spring, then onto a ledge. I could barely hear Issun's voice from where I was standing. I waited for them both to come back down. When they did, Ammy randomly dug up a buried chest with a lackerware set inside.

"Can we go now?" I asked, then walked face first into a bamboo gate. I heard Issun trying, and epically failing, to stifle a laugh. "Shut up." Ammy used waterspout to get water to a giant stalk of bamboo. The bamboo tipped like a seesaw and the gate opened.

"Should we get going?" Ammy asked. I could tell she was trying not to laugh, too. I felt myself blushing in embarrassment.

"Both of you, just shut it." I grumbled before we went through the tunnel. Soon it opened up to the stairway. At the second turn, we met a sparrow who was crying his eyes out.

"Tweeeet! Tweeeet!"

"Whoa, get a load of tweety here!" Issun said. I resisted the urge to flick him off Ammy's head. "Hey, what's with all the chirping, kid?"

"Don't call me kid!" The sparrow yelled. "I have a name you know. It's Tai! And I'm not chirping! I'm crying! Tweeet! Tweeet!"

"Oh, you're crying…"

"Nice observation."

"Shut up. So, what's with that creepy cry of yours?"

"Seriously, Issun?"

"Take's lost!" Tai sobbed. "He disappeared while we were out for a walk! Tweeet! Tweeet!"

"Who's Take? Is he a friend of yours?"

"He's my dog. I lost my dog! Tweeet! Tweeet!"

The canine tracker started spinning.

"Whoa, the canine tracker suddenly appeared! That must mean…"

"Great job, Sherlock. Now let's go find Take." I interrupted. We followed the path until…

I was nearly given a heard attack by some tigers.

…okay, not really. I mean, yes, that happened, but that wasn't the important part.

The important part was that there were five giant stalks of bamboo in a half-circle in the middle of the field. And they kept glowing like the stalk of bamboo Chi was sleeping in did. Hm, I wonder what that could possibly mean!

"Hm? You see what I see, Ammy?"

"Issun, be honest. How much sake have you had recently?" I joked. I might've been the one hallucinating, but I think I saw Issun flipping me off. I tried not to laugh.

"I think that bamboo over there is flashing…maybe we'll find something interesting inside if we cut it down."

"Wait." I stopped them.

"What?" Issun asked irritably.

"Someone's in a good mood." I said sarcastically. "How much praise do we have?"

"301."

"Enough to upgrade our ink." Ammy read my mind. I nodded. So we upgraded our ink and then cut down the glowing bamboo. After a few failed attempts, we finally got the right one. Of course, we found a sleeping dog in it. Presumably Take.

"Bingo!" Issun cheered. "But what's a dog doing in there?"

"And you didn't comment about Chi?" I was ignored per usual as Take jumped out of the bamboo shoot. And of course, Tei was drawn to his dog like a moth to flame.

"Tweet? T-Take! Take's back!" His dog got instantly got into a battle stance and started growling at us. "Take? What's wrong? Why are you growling? Tweet? Wait a minute…was it this white wolf and human who spirited you away?"

"What?" I yelled in disbelief.

"Oh, gimme a break!" Issun agreed with me. (Gasp!) "Hey, wait. I think this fleabag's trying to say something!"

"White wolf…what right do you have to bear the canine tracker?"

"Again, I am ignored."

"I thought you'd be used to it by now."

"Fight me and prove that you are worthy!"

"Ya-ah, forget it." Issun said when he saw my glare. "This must be a canine warrior, though! That canine tracker really set him off! So, what'll it be?"

I stepped forward. "I'll fight."

"What?" Issun gasped.

"I challenged the white wolf." Take growled.

"Yeah, well, I'm her friend. Not to mention we _both_ have possession of the canine tracker. I can fight if I want. Or are you scared?" I smirked at his facial expression after I said that.

"Are you sure about this, Silver?"

"Sure as I'll ever be." I truthfully answered.

"Okay…just don't hold back on us now!"

"I won't. I promise." I pulled out my paintbrush.

"I'm going to warn you now; I won't either." Take told me.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." I didn't mean to quote Waka, it just sorta happened. I dismissed the fact and prepared myself for the first attack.

Take jumped behind me and I whirled around at lightning speed. When I tried to hit him he jumped out of the way. I managed to land one hit to him the next time, but then he once again got out of range. He tried to kick some dirt onto me and I dodged to the right. Then he charged for an attack. And that was his mistake.

I powerslashed him and used an exorcism slip. I managed to get in a few hits before he got up. I groaned in frustration. This was going to take a while.

Especially considering the next three times I tried to attack, he just jumped away! Annoying, right? Not to mention he tried to throw dirt at me again. Human. In a pretty kimono. Who didn't want to take a risk of bathing within a ten mile radius of Issun. This whole process continued for a good minute or two before I assumed Take was at half health. Again, I could only guess, since this was in real life. There weren't any health bars in the corner of my vision. Although that would've made life heck of a lot more easy.

At that point I was getting sick and tired of the fight already, so I tried using the medium exorcism slip. That did crap and wasted 7,000 yen! Way to go, me! I should've figured that wouldn't have worked. I mentally scolded myself. While I was busy with that, I didn't notice Take preparing to attack. He charged at me and attacked my side. I sucked in a breath. But apparently he wasn't finished yet. He turned around and bit my left hand, causing me to drop my paintbrush. And, no, he wasn't done yet. Because he freaking attacked my right shoulder, hurting my broken arm in the process. (Having a dog slam into a broken arm does _not_ feel good, just for the record.)

I fell to the ground. The combo of fatigue, tiredness, pain in my arm, pain in my shoulder, pain in my hand, and pain in my side, (Yeah, I know. A lotta pain. Have I said the word pain enough times yet?) I couldn't even stand anymore. Take took a step back with a somewhat pleased look on his face when he figured he had won the fight. I managed to glance over at Ammy. She looked disappointed, sad, shocked, and concerned all rolled up into one expression. Issun's glow was light blue. I couldn't tell what that meant, as I had never seen that color before, but I could tell it probably wasn't good. Unable to look at my friends, I just hung my head in shame. I'd never felt more useless. Take had won, we wouldn't get the power orb, we wouldn't get into the gale shrine, we wouldn't be able to beat Orochi, Nippon was completely and utterly screwed. All because of my and my one stupid decision. I swear, I wanted to die on the spot. I silently begged Take to kill me in my mind.

"Giving up now?" I heard a voice ask. I lifted my head up slightly to look for the owner, but no one else was there. Was I hallucinating? "No, you're not. Now get off your lazy freaking butt!" The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on where I'd heard it before. It didn't sound like any of my friends.

"Who are you?" I quietly questioned.

"That's not important now. Besides, you'll figure it out later. But only if you win this fight. You're not one to give up. I know that. Don't even try to lie. So what happened to your determination? Where is your resolve? Don't tell me this dog scared it off. I won't take that type of crap from you. You know what you have to do. This is a random husky, for Shiranui's sake! If you actually let him win, I swear, I will kick your sorry butt in the afterlife, you hear me?" I gave a tiny nod. "Good. Now I'll help you, but only this one time. After this, you're on your own again, girl. Got it?" Another nod. "And remember, you're not alone. You've got your friends." I glanced over at Ammy and Issun. "Not just them, but everyone. All the people you've met. You'll all help you if you need it. Just like I'll do now." The ground started to glow slightly. Strangely enough, no one else seemed to notice. The pain of all my injuries faded away. I looked and saw that they had disappeared. The fatigue that I was feeling only minutes ago was completely gone, replaced by strength. I picked up my paintbrush and powerslashed Take so that he noticed me. There was no denying the shock in his eyes.

"One thing you don't know about me-I'm like a cockroach." I smirked and cherry bombed him. While he was lying, stunned, on the ground, I came closer to attack him a few times with the Infinity Judge, (Which Ammy had let me borrow right before the fight.) making sure to leave enough time for a powerslash afterwards. I protected myself from some flying dirt with Swirling Lotus, then switched my sub weapon to the Hurricane Beads. I completely spammed him with attacks until he finally gave up.

"Cut it out! Leave him alone!" Tai shouted. "I won't allow you to bully Take like that! Keep it up and I'll clobber you!"

"Wait a sec, tweety! We're not bullying anybody!"

"He _did_ ask for it." I added with a shrug.

Take spoke up. "I know princess Fuse summons me…it is my duty to defeat Crimson Helm, defiler of the Gale Shrine. But I cannot return…this place is in grave danger. The monsters will overrun Sasa Sanctuary without me. And the Sparrow Tribe, they would all be…oh, what shall I do?" A small purple orb floated from Take into us, sort of like whenever we got a new brush technique.

"Well, that works, I guess…"

"What's this? The power orb has chosen you. I need worry no longer. I shall remain here and battle the monsters for the Sparrow Tribe! Even separated, the hearts of the Canine Warriors beat as one!"

"Huh?" Issun was dumbfounded. "Hey, wait a second…"

"Follow where your heart leads!"

"Huh?...okay, whatever…I suppose it'll all make sense eventually…"

"Okay, let's do whatever we need to do and get out of here." I said. So we fed some tigers and some bunnies and then failed and finding a couple of chests! But before we left I decided to stop and look back at the pattern on the ground. It was weird, when the ground lit up, only the pattern glowed. Was that just random? Or was it actually important? I couldn't decide what to think.

"Hey, Silver? Are you comin' or not?" Issun's voice rang out.

"Yeah…coming." I gave one last glance at the pattern before following Ammy and Issun back to the bathhouse.

"Ahhh…what a fabulous hot spring!" Mr. Bamboo said once we arrived. "I heard a ruckus from after, but…why don't you wash off all that grime in the hot spring?"

"H-hot spring? I think we'll pass…" Issun replied quickly in a panicky tone. I rolled my eyes.

"I'd love to, but I wouldn't trust Issun being 20 miles away from me while I take a bath."

"Hurtful."

"You're a pervert."

"…point made. But anyway, isn't it about time you started looking for bamboo, gramps?"

"Oh…you're right. The festival is just around the corner. It falls on the night of the full moon."

"The night of the full moon?"

"You need everything to be justified, don't you?" I sighed. "Full moon. As in, a whole circle. As big as the moon gets. A giant cookie. _Comprende?_"

"What?" I face-palmed.

"Yep. Kamiki Village holds the Kamiki Festival on the night of the full moon this time of year. You've heard the legend of how the great heroes Nagi and Shiranui defeated the terrible beast with the help of the gods, haven't you?"

"Who hasn't?"

"That's why the village pays homage to the gods and the sacred tree." Mr. Bamboo continued. "This year is the 100th anniversary of the beast's defeat. I'd better finish that bamboo ware I want to sell at the festival."

"Hot dog! I just love festivals!" Issun exclaimed. "We gotta remember to get back to Kamiki Village on that day!"

Mr. Bamboo interrupted what I was about to say. "Oh, and by the way…I'd like to give you a little something to thank you for your help in the hot spring digging game. It isn't much, but you may find it useful. Here you go." He handed us a mermaid coin.

"Thanks, gramps! Whoa, that's some grubby pocket change…" I rolled my eyes. Again.

"There are many small springs known as mermaid springs across Nippon. They say you can pass between them by tossing in one of those coins. If true, you could travel across Nippon in the blink of an eye!"

"Really? These are some wicked coins! They must be extremely valuable!"

"No, not really…you can even buy them at stores around here." I couldn't help but laugh when Issun fell off Ammy's head that time. "I only kept it because it was kind of cute. I don't have much, so you'll have to excuse me."

"Don't worry. It's the thought that counts, right?" I asked as I picked up an unconscious Issun and dropped him on Ammy's head. He'd wake up eventually.

Them Mr. Bamboo changed topics. "It's almost the festival season. The full moon will soon rise. It's been exactly 100 years since that beast was slain. But I always think of Kaguya when I talk about the moon…oh, how she used to love gazing up at the moon!" He sighed. "There I go again, reminiscing about the past. I'll end up in the poorhouse if I don't finish my bamboo ware soon." He didn't have anything else to say, so we all just left for the Agata Forest. After getting all the extra things we could in Taka Pass with our new brush technique, of course.

The first thing we noticed was Kokari scanning the area and whistling every two seconds.

"Oh, it's you again!" The boy said when he saw Ammy. "But…who are you? And where's the silver wolf?"

"I'm their owner." I answered calmly. WAY better than the first meeting with Mr. Bamboo, in my opinion. "And she's sleeping back at my house."

"Oh…well, have you seen my dog, Ume?" Kokari asked.

"No. Is he missing?"

"Wouldn't be surprised if he got eaten again." Issun muttered, earning him a glare from me.

"He's always with me when I'm fishing. He disappeared while I wasn't looking. You don't think he could've fallen into the Deep Abyss, do you?" He became panicked. "The water in the Deep Abyss has always been a bit murky…but today you can barely see into it and the surface is all rippley. My fisherman's intuition tells me the legendary fish has awakened. People call it…Whopper." The entire forest went quiet and I'm pretty sure I heard some dramatic music. "They say it swallowed the moon reflected on the water's surface! You don't think Whopper swallowed Ume too, do you?"

"With that dog's luck, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Issun!"

"What? I'm just telling him the truth!"

"Don't scare him!"

"Well, I can't find him alone." Kokari said. "Maybe I'll go talk to that lady who's visiting Hitoshio Spring…" Then he once again concentrated on finding Ume.

We all three exchanged glances. "To Hitoshio Spring."

Once we got to said spring, we saw Kushi. She was sitting next to a giant barrel and staring at the water. "Mmm…the water here is so lovely and cool!" She said to herself. "Now time to get to work! Here's the barrel…"

"Hm? Why lookie here, it's Kushi!" Issun announced as if it wasn't obvious. "Whatcha up to, sweetie?"

She turned around. "Oh! It's you! Snow and Issun! And…"

"Celia. I'm her owner." I looked at Ammy. "Who you have apparently dubbed Snowy…" Okay, how many times would I have to tell people this? _Fix, broken arm! Fix!_

Kushi just nodded. "I'm here making preparations for the annual Kamiki Festival. I've come to get water for the holy sake we offer to the gods. People way the water here at Hitoshio Spring has divine powers. We always mix it with the holy sake we use for the festival. That's why we can make the 8 purification sake."

"Whoa, hold it right there, sister!" Issun suddenly yelled. "The 8 purification sake? You mean the sacred drink of ancient legend?"

"That's right. It goes back to the legend of Nagi and Shiranui. It was the miraculous sake that they used to defeat Orochi. Apparently they got the beast drunk and cut off its heads! It certainly smells strong enough to intoxicate anything." I heard Issun gulp. "I don't know if the legends are really true or not. But we offer sake to the gods at the festival time and pray for peace."

"By the way, sweetie, I was wondering…you plan on filling this barrel with water?"

"That's right! We need enough for all of the villagers. So I have to fill this barrel to the brim!"

"But how're ya gonna fill such a big barrel with water? And even if you can, how're ya gonna carry it back to the village?"

"Hm?...that's a good point. I hadn't thought of that because Susano usually takes care of it. He can handle the barrel as if it was as light as a feather. There's no way I can manage on my own, though."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked Ammy.

"Yup. Waterspout." She made lines connecting the water to the barrel until it was full. Kushi started jumping for joy when she noticed.

"Yay! How wonderful! The barrel's full of spring water already! This will be plenty for the holy sake for the festival. Excellent! Now we just have to get it back to the village."

"Carry it home? But it must weigh a ton!" Issun pointed out.

Just then, a red imp came out of freaking _nowhere_ and tried to hit us all. It barely missed Kushi.

"Wh-what is it?" It stepped closer to her. "D-do you want some of the spring water?" Another step. "S-sorry! I'll be getting this barrel out of your way s-soon…" She grabbed the barrel and tried to get away. Obviously, her plan didn't work. The red imp attacked, but Kushi was protected by something. It took her a few seconds to register this. By the time the imp had gotten up and dusted itself off…

"Back, you beast!" Susano ran up to protect Kushi. Okay, raise your hand if you saw this coming. "Here I am just taking a walk, and look what I run into!"

"Oh! It's you!"

"Susano?" Issun gaped.

Two yellow imps appeared. Susano looked slightly scared, but he at least tried to act brave, I'll give him that. "T-take one more step towards the lady and it'll b-b-be your last!" Another red imp and two blue ones joined the party. Susano was shaking at this point. "The g-great Susano, descendant of the hero Nagi, f-f-forbids it! D-do not despair, my fair Kushi! Susano is here to s-save the d-d-day!" _He dropped his sword from all the sweat in his hand_ and then quickly picked it back up. I couldn't stop myself from face-palming.

"Uh-oh, this looks bad…"

"He's screwed."

"I…I swing my sword in the name of love!"

"Okay, now he's just making this all sound cliché."

"Susano-style sword of passion! H-here I go! You-" Slash. "Leave" Slash. "My" Slash. "Kushi" Slash. "Alone!" Slash. After the small massacre, Susano stared at his sword. "Huh?" A yellow imp came up behind him.

"Susano! Watch out!"

"Look behind you!"

"Huh?" He noticed the imp and attacked. AKA Ammy powerslashed it, but still…

"Hey, you did it, pops! That was amazing! You looked kinda scared at first, but ya pulled it off for the lady!" Ammy ate Issun. I used all my self control not to laugh.

"Susano…" Kushi said. "Um, thank you. I didn't expect to see such ferocious monsters here. Are you hurt?" He didn't reply. "Susano?"

"I knew it…" Oh, great. Conspiracy time. "I knew it all along…strange things have been happening ever since then…first that boulder in Kamiki, then that battle with the bear…and now this…my sword is possessed by a strange power. You listen to me, O spirit who defiles my sword! I shall not be controlled like some puppet! By the gods, I shall expose your nefarious scheme!" And then he just ran off.

The heck?

Issun forcefully opened Ammy's jaw and fell out of her mouth. His glow was red. "Gross! Wolf spit!" The poncle complained.

"Y'know, I thought you were used to it by now."

"The magnificent Issun takes offense!" I heard him unsheathe Denkomaru. "Why I oughta…hm? Where's Susano?" Late reaction there. "Where did he go running off to?"

"He left without saying a word." Kushi told Issun, still staring in the direction Susano ran off in.

"What was he thinking? I mean, he just won the battle! Now it's time to win the damsel's heart!"

"As cliché as that may sound, I agree."

"At least he could've stayed around to carry the barrel!"

"It's okay." Kushi said, but by the tone of her voice I could tell she was disappointed. "He must be busy with other things. There's no need to bother him with this." She uselessly tried to pull the barrel, and I seriously wondered how the heck she was going to get it back to Kamiki. "I'm sure I can manage on my own from here, anyway." And then the end of that little scene transitioned to another, triggered by the shout of a child.

"That sounded like that Kokari kid! Is he in trouble _again?_ We better go check it out, you two!" The canine tracker started to spin around us. "Whoa! The canine tracker suddenly appeared! So that means…"

"Ume's a canine warrior." Ammy confirmed. We all ran off to the Deep Abyss as fast as we could. And by that I seriously mean as fast as we could. I was riding on Ammy's back as she made absolutely outrageous and dangerous stunts such as jumping off cliffs to quickly reach Kokari. It was terrifying to say the least, but when I'd already done those sorts of things as a wolf, it helped with the fear. A little.

"Grr…" Kokari was holding onto his fishing pole and pulling with all of his might. I could even see beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Wow, looks like you got a big one there, kid!" Issun commented, sounding impressed. "With all that noise you were making, I was sure the monsters-" He was cut off by a huge fish jumping out of the water. We all flew backwards, Ammy landing on her back and me and Kokari falling on our butts. But as soon as he noticed the pink dog in the fish's mouth, Kokari was on his feet again.

"Ume!" He shouted desperately. Then he looked back at his fishing pole. "Shoot! My line snapped!" Ammy stood up and shook the water out of her fur, getting me wet in the process. I shot her a small glare, but she didn't notice, so I just got up as well. "Curse you, Whopper! I'm gonna catch you!" Kokari yelled out to the water in rage. "You're gonna pay for what you did to Ume!"

"Where the heck did that humongous fish come from, anyways?" Issun asked. "And wasn't that your dog Ume in its mouth?"

"That was the legendary fish, Whopper." Cue dramatic music. "They say it swallowed the moon reflected on the water's surface! So it really does live in these murky waters! Well, it's gonna pay for gobbling up good old Ume!"

"Sheesh…that dog sure gets eaten a lot, doesn't he?"

"I don't have any fishing line left…but I'll snag that Whopper yet!" There was determination in Kokari's eyes. "This shall be a battle to avenge Ume!"

"This is getting more interesting by the minute. That Whopper or whatever it's called would be quite a catch. Let's stick around and see if we can help him catch it!"

I kneeled down next to Ammy. "Can you do this on your own? It'll look suspicious if I get out a paintbrush and start swinging it around like a maniac." I whispered to her. She nodded, and I sat down to watch Ammy and Kokari. After catching a couple of fish, Kokari got Whopper on his line. It took Ammy two powerslashes to finally make Whopper weak enough to pull in. As the fish was flying through the air, I noticed that it was nighttime already even though Ammy and I had just recently used sunrise. It was weird, but I just decided to blame video game logic.

"I knew I could do it!" Kokari said. "I finally caught Whopper!" Said fish was flopping around on the ground and gasping for air. That kinda made me feel sorry for it.

"Heh…and here I was so worried about ya, kid." Issun was standing on Ammy's nose.

"What do you mean? You didn't seem concerned in the least." I pointed out.

"Shut up. But you're one fine fisherman. You should be proud of yourself. Keep on fishin'! And make sure to bring plenty of line!"

Kokari stared at the ground, his hands clenched tightly. "How can I ever fish again? I mean, what about Ume? He's never coming back!" His eyes started to water.

"Oh boy, the crybaby's back." I flicked Issun off Ammy's head and into the water, then put a hand on Kokari's shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that-"

"Hey, you two might wanna see this!"

"Not now, Issun!" I called back irritably. But Ammy grabbed my hand and pulled me to the edge of the water against my will.

"Thank you, Furball." Issun jumped onto Ammy's head. "Look at that! The surface of the Deep Abyss is as bring and shiny as a mirror! The moon's reflection sure looks beautiful! Wait…where's the moon? How come I can only see it's reflection?" Well, there may not have been a moon out, but the stars were as bright as ever. "Hey, look! Another constellation!" It was sorta a mental agreement that I got to draw all the stars since Ammy got to help with fishing. Besides, Kokari was probably too depressed at the moment to notice.

A rabbit with a hammer jumped out of the constellation. Some mochi randomly appeared in between us, and Ammy and the rabbit started kneading it. But as soon as Ammy started to stare at the mochi with a hungry look in her eyes, the rabbit tried to hit us with her hammer. Ammy jumped out of the way and was kind enough to grab my hand and pull me out of harm's way, too. We both had a glare-off with the rabbit until she finally gave up and backed down and we got to the normal part of the cutscene.

"Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…after your departure, I hid myself within the moon's reflection. Consumed by a fish, I patiently awaited this day in its belly. Now that a glimmer of hope has returned, I have returned. I, Yumigami, god of the moon, cover the earth in a pale moonlight. Use this light in conjunction with your own on your perilous journey!"

"Yumigami, the god of moon power…" Issun trailed once we were back in the Agata Forest. "So Whopper really _did_ swallow up the moon reflected on the water! Now you have the crescent brush technique! That one lets you draw a crescent moon in the sky. It's said to have the power to turn day into night. Wonder if it really works? Could drawing a curved line in the sky really bring out the moon?" A split second after he said that, the moon appeared. I smirked as I twirled my paintbrush in my left hand.

"Does that answer your question?"

"The moon, the moon! It's come out!" Normally, I would've commented about being ignored again. But I was too caught up in trying to figure out where I'd heard that before…

Waka. At the Moon Cave. Telling Ammy something anyone (except maybe Issun) could figure out. I looked up at the trees, trying to fine the tell tale pink and purle, but I couldn't spot him anywhere. Was he like a professional stalker or something? 'Cuz I knew he had to be watching us from somewhere.

"Um, Silver?"

"Huh?" I turned my attention back to Issun and Ammy.

"I just said something perverted and I wasn't flicked off Ammy's head. Are you okay?"

"Yes, Issun. I'm fine. It's called ignoring someone. You should know a lot about it, since you seem to do it to me a lot."

"I do not."

"Yes you do."

"Oookay, before you two end up arguing the night away," Ammy interrupted. "We still have the matter that Princess Fuse asked us to deal with." Hey, perfect timing; Ume randomly flew out of Whopper's mouth.

"Hey!" Kokari gasped in amazement. "I-i-i-it's Ume! He came outta Whopper's mouth! You okay, boy?"

"I knew it would spit Ume out." Issun said, causing me to flick him off Ammy's head. I was the one trying to comfort Kokari and tell him his dog would be fine, not Issun.

"That's why we told you not to worry." I explained, slightly pausing at the word 'we' since it had really only been me.

"Yeah, I mean, just look at him. He looks like he's one nasty tasting canine!" Issun added when he got back on Ammy's nose.

"Really?" Kokari asked.

"Definitely! Never seen an uglier looking dog in my life!" Ume growled at us and got into a battle stance. "What? I say something wrong?"

"You called him ugly, Issun. Of course he's going to take offense."

"Oh, come on! I was just trying to have a little fun like I do with Furball here…"

"White wolf…how did you come to bear the canine tracker?" Ume questioned us, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Before any of us could respond, he started speaking again. "Hm? There's a familiar scent in the air…my former comrades…it emanates from your bodies!"

"What the-? Well, it's none of your business how se smell! It's just that we don't like taking baths, that's all!"

"Issun, that's the lamest excuse ever."

"I think I have to agree with Celia."

"Both of you, just shut it." Then something clicked in Issun's brain. "Hey, wait…"

"Yes, he just mentioned the canine tracker. Yes, he is a canine warrior. Now can we just start the stupid fight over our right to bear the canine tracker?" I snapped.

"So you know the canine tracker decrees that its bearer shall prove his strength?" Ume asked.

"Yeah, we've kinda known that since our last two fights with Tei and Take."

"Yeah…this time I'm fighting." Ammy told me.

"Fair enough." I shrugged. "I guess I'll just leave you two to that…" I sat down next to the rock that said 'Deep Abyss'. And, I swear I didn't mean to, but I fell to sleep.

"Hey, Silver…wake up…I said wake up!"

"The answer is eight-point-two!" I yelled, then slightly blushed from embarrassment when I realized Ammy and Issun were both staring at me.

"Uh…I'm not gonna ask…" Issun said.

"Sorry." I yawned. "I guess I'm really tired…"

"Open your eyes!"

"Huh?" I didn't even realize I had closed them again. "…sorry." I yawned again.

"I think we should find somewhere to stay for the night." Ammy suggested.

"That'd be…nice…" I felt my head drooping. Ammy lifted me onto her back and ran off to…somewhere. I didn't know where at that point. I just knew that I woke up again when I hit the ground.

"Sorry!" I heard Ammy apologize. I opened my eyes and noticed that we were in a small room. I was lying on the floor next to a bed, so I figured Ammy must've failed at trying to get me onto it.

"Where are we?" I asked as I sat on the bed. The fall, although it had been small, had been a big enough shock to keep me from instantly falling to sleep again.

"Sasa Sanctuary. In the empty room of emptiness." Issun answered. "But I guess we can't call it that as long as we're staying here."

"Sorry for slowing us down." I told them.

"Everyone needs sleep." Ammy pointed out.

"Thanks for bringing me here."

"It was no problem for us." Issun said, trying to act like the hero.

"You probably just sat on Ammy's head the entire time." I pointed out.

"He did."

"Hey!"

"Issun, you're so predictable." I gave a small laugh, then my tone changed. "That being said, don't you dare try anything."

"Haven't we been over this?"

"Yeah, but that was two nights ago, and you're a pervert." I tossed one of the pillows to the other side of the room. "There. A poncle-sized bed."

"You're mean." Issun huffed as he bounced over to the pillow.

"I will stand by my previous statement of you are a pervert."

"I can't wait 'til you're a wolf again." I heard him grumble.

"The feeling's mutual." I replied and stuck my tongue out at him. Ammy rolled her eyes and lay down next to the bed. And then we all got a somewhat good night's sleep for once.

"Fluffy! C'mon, get off your lazy butt already and let's go!" I felt something bouncing on my arm. Issun…

"Where's the bug repellant when you need it?" I grumbled and opened my eyes. When I glance over at Ammy, I noticed she looked like she had just been woken up, too. "Wait. Issun, you were the first one awake?" I sat up and Issun jumped onto my knee.

"Yeah." He replied.

"How is that even possible?" I stared at him.

"Well, I fall to sleep on Ammy's head a lot, so I didn't need as much sleep as you two."

"How long ago did you wake up?"

"About ten minutes ago."

"Issun!" I yelled. Said poncle jumped onto Ammy's head before I could flick him. "I hate you."

"I already know that. Now let's get goin' already, we're loosing daylight!" I glared at him, as did Ammy, by we reluctantly walked out of the room. We used the mermaid coin that Mr. Bamboo gave us on the hot spring in Sasa Sanctuary and after one soaked, annoyed poncle later we were near the dojo in Shinshu Field. And with an epic jump, we were on our way to Kamiki Village to pay a visit to Hayabusa.

Unfortunately for us, annoying interruptions are annoying.

"I do not speak to those who cannot break my hole-digging record." Hayabusa said bluntly.

"You've gotta be kidding me." I groaned.

"Huh?...well, we could break that stupid record any time we wanted, right Ammy?" Issun huffed.

"Let's go dig up some turnips." Ammy said and ran off to the turnip field to wreak havoc. I gave a small laugh and sat down next to the cliff to watch her. I wished I could've helped, it sort of looked like fun. But she was left to do the turnip digging while I sat and watched, powerslashing Mushi's mom every now and then when she was getting too close to Ammy.

"Okay, we got it!" Issun announced as Ammy and I walked up to Mushi. Ammy promptly spit the vegetable out of her mouth and flopped onto the ground.

"That woman is way too fast." She complained.

"It's okay. You won't have to do it again." I patted her head.

"Hey! That's…that's…" Mushi stuttered as he stared at the turnip in disbelief.

"The oddly shaped turnip? Yes, we know." I said nonchalantly.

"Hayabusa and I have been looking for that forever!"

"Yeah, well, trust me, getting that thing was no walk in the park. You two are both insane for trying to get it for so long."

"That means your dog broke Hayabusa's record! Gosh darn it!"

"Do you have something to say?" I questioned.

Mushi was quiet for a second before grumbling. "Fine…yours is the better canine…"

"Was that so hard?"

"Actually…it feels good to have a new goal to aim for!" He gave me and Ammy some praise and then…

"Whoa! The canine tracker suddenly appeared!"

"So, can we fight now?" Ammy asked Hayabusa.

"Wait, is that the canine tracker?" The dog stared at the floating…thing in disbelief.

"Well, it's reacting to you and we're expecting a fight. Figure it out." I told him.

"Have you come to take me home to my master?" I could hear worry in his voice.

"Well, that'd be nice." Ammy said, half polite and half sarcastic.

"You must be on an errand from Princess Fuse if you bear that. But I shall not move from here, for the festival will begin soon!" Oh, right. He had to be there at the festival…

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Issun exclaimed. "You're one of the Satomi Canine Warriors and you're just going to ignore the Princess's summons to wait for the festival?"

"Come back here tonight." Hayabusa told us. "We need to have a man-to-man talk." I gave Issun a glare. I could've slept longer!

"Man-to-man talk? Don't you mean dog-to-wolf?"

"Technically, it's dog-to-wolf-to-girl-to-poncle." I pointed out.

"That's quite a mouthful." Ammy commented.

"Indeed it is." I said. "But let's just get this over with." I pulled out my paintbrush and used crescent, turning it to night already. Once everyone left, I turned to Hayabusa. "You were saying?"

"You bear the canine tracker, so you must know what it decrees."

"Yep, we do."

"Men settle their differences at night! Man-to-man, fist-to-fist!"

"Man-to-man, fist-to-fist?" Issun questioned.

"I believe he means dog-to-wolf-to-girl-to-poncle, paw-to-paw-to-fist-to-tiny fist." I put in, slightly impressed with myself for saying that so quickly.

"You gonna let this punk talk to you like that?" I couldn't tell if Issun was trying to pump us up or if he was seriously angry. His glow was green, so I presumed it was the former.

"Bring it on, turnip-breath." I said, clutching my paintbrush tightly.

"You really wanna fight this yourself?" Ammy asked me.

"No, I was thinking we'd do it together this time."

"Oh…then let's do this!" She got into a battle stance.

"You two really can't say no to a fight, can you?" Issun asked.

"Nope!" Ammy and I both answered cheerfully.

"Okay, let's show what it means to be the new hole-digging kings!"

"Queens."

"Whatever."

I would put everything that happened here, but it'd take way too long and you'd get bored. The gist of it was hole-digging, powerslashing, and curse words. Lots and lots of curse words. Which is another reason why I'd rather not describe the battle in detail. I also have a feeling that if it were the actual game, we would've done pathetically on both time and damage.

"Okay, you've got some explaining to do, ya doggie!" Issun yelled. His glow was red and he was bouncing angrily on Ammy's head. I just guessed his bad mood came from how horribly we did in the fight. "Why ya ignoring the princess's summons to wait for the festival?"

"I am not the real Hayabusa." He admitted. "The real Hayabusa died along with Mushi's father when they were attacked by monsters deep in the forest. I happened to pass by about that time, but I was too late. Right before Hayabusa died, he begged me to protect Mushi. He foretold the coming of a white plumed arrow from the sky. An arrow that would kill Mushi on the night of the full moon…that is how I came to live here in this village. I have been waiting for the full moon on the festival season. Nobody noticed I was not the real Hayabusa, as we are the same breed. The night of the full moon draws near. I shall not move from here. My duty is to fulfill Hayabusa's dying wish. I must protect Mushi!" He gave his Satomi Power Orb, the loyalty orb, to us.

"Great, we got another one of those power orbs!" Issun announced. "What was all that he said Hayabusa foretold? Something or other about an arrow that would kill Mushi? That's not a very happy story for such a festive season…I hope it's not related to that legend about Orochi and the arrow." Ammy nodded in agreement while I kept my mouth shut. Gosh dang spoilers. "Hey, looks like we've found the three Satomi Power Orbs that the canine warriors had! Hmm…I know we promised to bring the dogs back, but…"

"She was concerned for their safety, Issun. As long as we bring back the power orbs and tell her the canine warriors are okay, it'll be fine." I said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…but I wonder…you think they can handle Crimson Helm over at the Gale Shrine?"

"Not a chance." Ammy, and probably Issun, just stared at me. "That's why once they go in, we'll sneak in after them." I had a smirk on my face.

"I think I like that plan, Silver." Issun praised. "So what're we waitin' for? Let's get back to Kusa Village!"


	16. Search for the Se Grape Crystal

All right! New chapter! Woo! *shot* Hey, I typed it up a lot quicker than last time, I have a right to be happy. And, more good news, volleyball is ending soon. The last game is this Tuesday. Which means more time for me to type. Aaaand it also means that I'm going to try to make an update schedule! (Seriously, I need one of these. Badly.) After this, I'm going to try to make the updates every Friday. Possibly Saturday if I've been buried in homework or something else that week. I mean, I've got a lot of chapters that I haven't typed up yet, and I think this will help a lot…I really hope the next chapter isn't as long as the last one…

Thank you Okami Saphira, StormofRoses, Clawfire, NeonGreenSheep, Pixelated Firefly, Rainbow Guppy, Wingy, (She was nice to me? What?) the anonymous reviewer, and Mysticdragon21. Double cookies for Senom, Lilac, Lily, and Sayuri for making the biggest freaking review I have ever seen in my life. And now to reply to all the anonymous reviewers/those too lazy to log into their accounts.

Clawfire: AmmyxWaka oneshot? YES!

Senom: (Ammy, this is going to take forever…) I'd suggest getting an invincible helmet or something…you really seem like you need one…  
>Seriously? That's the weirdest thing ever. I wish I had an update sense. XD Strangely enough, I seem to have a review sense…<br>Yes, that was supposed to be a slight pairing scene. Lilac, I'm surprised you didn't point out the one in the Tsuta Ruins chapter.  
>Celia: I'm sorry I couldn't do the digging game. *shrug*<br>You consider me a good friend? *tears of joy come to eyes* Nah, I'm kidding. Although it _did_ make me very happy to read that.  
>Celia: Hey, if I can kick Waka's butt with a broken arm, I can win a fight with anyone.<br>Which is why you nearly gave up in the fight with Take?  
>Celia: Shut it…stupid author…<br>Strangely enough, that comment made me really think about what I planned out for that character. And now I'm so confused I'm seriously considering changing it.  
>Celia: How do you think I feel about it all?<br>One thing-THANK AMMY I'M NOT YOU!  
>Celia: -.-<br>Erm…Senom? *pokes you with a stick*  
>Celia: Yep, I figured. Why must Spanish not be invented yet?<br>Celia: I've never read Yet Another Okami Parody…*opens up a new tab*  
>Celia: You say that now, 'til you're the one being ignored. And yep, Waka <em>is <em>stalker.  
>Erm…Sayuri, not to be rude or anything, but ten minus two-point-two would be seven-point-eight. (I am such a nerd…)<br>Mystery Character: At least I know I'm not alone.

Rainbow Guppy: Thanks!

Anonymous reviewer: Thanks! ^^

Celia: Desi doesn't own Okami. She also can't think of any witty remarks to put here.  
>Don't tell the readers that! *facepalm*

Chapter 13-Search for the Se-Grape Crystal

"We're back." I announced when we walked up to Princess Fuse, who was in her house along with the first 5 canine warriors.

"Oh, hello." She smiled warmly at me. Ammy barked, wanting some attention. "Why, it's my favorite wolf and bug." She pet Ammy, who enjoyed every second of it. I just rolled my eyes and laughed. Princess Fuse was such an animal lover.

"Enough with the bug thing already!" Issun yelled in exasperation.

"I must speak to you about the 3 remaining canine warriors…I am sensing something different about them. Do you bring no word of their condition or whereabouts?"

"Well, um…about that…"

"They won't be coming back." I told her. "They found different owners. But they're all safe and happy. They gave us their power orbs to give to you."

"Oh…" Princess Fuse said, taking the fact in. "Well, I did sense that the canine warriors had changed in some way…maybe they had a fateful encounter. Perhaps strong bonds that cannot be broken have been forged. If they are to live apart from the Satomi House, I have but one wish. I would wish them to protect the peace under their new master, for that is the role they are meant to fulfill.

"We'll tell 'em when we run into 'em again." Issun assured her. The three power orbs we had collected flew into the three gray orbs behind Fuse's back and regained their color.

"Well, at any rate, the Satomi Power Orbs have been returned! Now I can break Crimson Helm's barrier. I must get to the shrine." Right after she said that, the eight orbs that were spinning behind Princess Fuse decided to switch to me and Ammy instead.

"Whoa, check it out! The orbs are spinning around us!"

"Great observation, Sherlock."

"How could this be?" Princess Fuse asked in shock and amazement. "Have the power orbs accepted you as their new masters?"

"Cool." I said simply, watching the multi-colored orbs spin around us.

"Monsters? What're ya talkin' about, lady?"

"One does not choose to take the orbs. They choose their master." She explained. "O magnificent power orbs, heirlooms of the Satomi House…are these whom you have chosen to decide the Satomi House's fate?"

"We're supposed to fight that Crimson Helmet thing?" Issun sounded like he was about to panic.

"The power orbs have chosen you. I have no right to question them. Whether to face Crimson Helm is your own choice. All I can do now is pray for your good fortune in battle."

Issun bounced off Ammy's head and one of the orbs followed him. I tried to do the same and the two followed me. "Hey, lady. These power orbs won't go away." He whined.

"The power orbs' decision is final. There is nothing I can do. They have been passed down from the Satomi house from time immemorial. Now they shall break the barrier and lead us to victory!"

"Come on, Issun." I picked up the hyperventilating poncle on our way out while the canine warriors who were present all gave us words of encouragement. Once we were outside, I lifted my hand to my face. "You were just putting on an act in there, right?"

"Uh, yep!" I rolled my eyes and Issun bounced on my shoulder. I honestly didn't care anymore. "Onward to the Gale Shrine!" He pointed Denkomaru towards the path. Ammy and I exchanged amused glances before we were off and running. After feeding some monkeys, finding a hidden treasure chest, and blooming a clover, we went through the gate and into a cave. And I swear, as we walked through that cave I could hear the music from Hana Valley echo in my head. Not the calm and peaceful one, the creepy ominous one. I would've given anything to be back in the Tsuta Ruins right about then.

"Susano-style sleeping monk, hidden sake!" We heard a yell from deeper inside. We ran towards it and quickly found everyone's favorite brave warrior/lazy fart/insert other fitting word of choice here.

"What the-?" Issun questioned. "Oh, well lookie here, it's Susano again!"

"Still sleeping, as always." I put in.

"I'm surprised he hasn't woken up yet, he seems to have a sixth sense telling him when we're near." Ammy commented.

Susano started grumbling. "O spirit who defiles my sword…"

"Does he still believe his sword is possessed?"

"I am closer than ever…here at the Gale Shrine, where the beast makes its lair, your true form shall be revealed!"

"…can I please wake him up and tell him that it's been us powerslashing stuff the entire time?"

"No."

"You suck."

"This cursed barrier may bar my way, but if I pray long and hard, I shall eventually find a way in!" We couldn't understand anything else.

"The lazy bum's talking in his sleep…" Issun sighed.

"Doesn't he always do that?" Ammy pointed out.

"No, no…not that…" We all turned our attention to the sleeptalker again. "By the gods, I vow to…you won't ever…"

"I thought he was just talking in his sleep, but…he seems rather frantic. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad…"

"N-n-no! Nooo! I never…please, not…"

"What the heck's he dreaming about? Sounds like he's getting his butt kicked!"

"Oookay, moving right along!" I said before Issun made any more comments about Susano's sleeptalking. I mean, come on. Playing through Okami to the Moon Cave gave me at least a little sympathy for the guy in these situations. We took a left to get to the entrance of the Gale Shrine, but ran into something, or rather, _someone_ else.

"Hey, what's up with this guy? I can see right through him!" Issun exclaimed.

The man in front of us was wearing a green shirt with slightly darker designs and had a windmill hat that was spinning despite the lack of wind in the cold cave.

"Hm? Who are you? How is it you can see me?" He questioned.

I stepped forward. "Well, I'm Celia. The thing on my shoulder is Issun the wandering artist."

"I am not at thing!"

I ignored Issun's outburst. "And the white wolf standing next to me is Ammy, better known as Okami Amaterasu." She nodded her head. "And we can see you 'cuz you're right there."

"I am Yatsu, the earthbound spirit who haunts this area. Long has it been since any have ventured this way. My eyes have failed me. I can no longer see. In their stead, my inner eye can judge a person's true form. You appear to be two maidens most fair. What could possibly bring you both to the Gale Shrine?"

"We're just crazy and like to do stupid stuff." I answered sarcastically.

"You must leave this place, for it is no longer a shrine of the gods. It is now cursed and under the control of a horrible creature. This is no place for fair maidens such as you."

"Well, we're really tomboy-ish maidens who like to explore dangerous places like Hana Valley and the Tsuta Ruins."

"Wait, did he just call you a fair maiden, Furball?" Issun was quiet for a second, then burst out laughing. He was so hysterical that he fell off my shoulder. I waited for him to bounce back up. "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!" He said once he was back on.

"What's this? It appears the maidens are accompanied by a little booger. Is the village to meet its end at long last?"

I tried not to laugh. I tried really hard. But after about ten seconds I caved in and doubled over in a laughing fit.

"Little booger? He better not be talking about me!" That just made me laugh all the harder.

"Issun, he's not talking about me or Ammy." I pointed out after I had calmed down a bit, although my face was red from lack of oxygen. "That is the funniest thing you've been called by far!"

"Don't make me stab you."

"Not many people have been to the Gale Shrine since it's been cursed." Yatsu continued. "The strangely frenzied man over there is one of the few. He has been meditating alone at the shrine's entrance. But his sleep is filled with nightmares that make him cry out. I pity the poor man and would like to render what service I could, but when I try to peer into his dreams, a strange force bars my way. Who is this strange man?"

"Come to think of it…" Issun trailed. "Susano _did_ say something about being possessed."

"He was talking about his sword, idiot."

"Yeah, but he's also been acting all weird, like that time he helped Kushi."

"He always acts like that!"

"What's this? I sense an intense power!" Yatsu changed the subject. "It envelopes your bodies…could it be the Satomi Power Orbs?"

"They've been here this whole conversation and you just notice this now? I think your might need glasses for your inner eye."

"Fair maidens, the orbs would only choose the ones who are our saviors."

"Uh…thanks for the encouragement?"

"The 8 colors of light are living proof of that. Very well, you may pass, O saviors of the Satomi House!" The power orbs broke the barrier in front of the door, went into the dents like keys, and the door opened up.

Issun gulped. "Uhh…"

"Beware, fair maidens." Yatsu warned. "Crimson Helm is a terrible foe. It is said that when the 8-headed dragon was slain 100 years ago, Crimson Helm emerged from a pool of the beast's blood. Never let your guard down."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Susano finally made a less-than-epic entrance. "The door to the Gale Shrine has opened? I must have finally communed with the gods! The time has come, foul spirit! Now I shall reveal your true form!" Then he ran off into the shrine.

"No, pops, wait!" Issun yelled.

"Well, it's official. He's screwed."

"Is life not dear to that man?"

"Hm, well, he's run into dangerous areas without hesitation, attacked giant bears, fought monsters (to his knowledge) single-handedly, grabbed onto logs that were going down rapids with a waterfall at the end, and his weapon of choice is a dull wooden sword. So I'd have to say no."

Yatsu for some reason repeated his entire little speech about Crimson Helm. Strangely enough, I didn't interrupt him.

"Okay, we got it already…now stop trying to freak us out!" Issun told the ghost, probably glaring.

"Are you ready?" Ammy asked me.

"As I'll ever be." I gave her a tiny smile and then we walked through the doorway.

I stuck close to Ammy at first. I'll admit, I was scared. And I knew what was going to happen. I could only imagine how my friends felt about walking through there.

"Do you want to sit on my back?" Ammy asked, sensing my nervousness.

"No…I'll be fine." I took a deep breath and just kept walking. The dungeon itself wasn't that bad. And the boss fight wouldn't be too difficult…right?

"If you say so. But tell me if you want to." I nodded and waited for Ammy to get three treasures from a pool of water once we stepped into a giant room. Then we went through a pathway to the left and walked right into a monster gate and the introduction of a new enemy whose name escapes me at the moment. It was basically a pot of boiling water with some type of reptile's legs and a monkey head. It was like Orochi's Frankenstein or something…y'know what? I'll call it a frank from now on.

Ammy spammed the frank with attacks from the infinity judge and I powerslashed it whenever it was stunned. (It only really got hurt on the power slash…or at least that's what it looked like.) After we repeated the process three times, we got the key. Which meant there was a lockjaw nearby. We walked back out to the main room (with Ammy carrying the key) and went down the obvious pathway to go down. After a flight of stairs and a walkway that I might've accused of being copied in Twilight Princess had I knows which game came first, we came to another big room which will now be referred to as the main room because we went into it a lot more. It was pretty much just a giant circular room with a couple of pots here and there, an elevator in the middle, (With a panicked-looking lockjaw blocking the way.) and an origin mirror. We broke the pots and stepped on the origin mirror just 'cuz before walking into the elevator. It was actually pretty big. It was still circular and there were three symbols on the floor in a circle, (okay, technically it was a triangle…) indicating which floor we were on. In the middle of those symbols was another one with a picture of a cherry bomb. Pretty obvious what we had to do.

"Wait." Ammy told me. "Get out." I did as she said, watching her back up as well, followed shortly by the elevator leaving us behind.

"Why'd ya do that? Now we're stuck!" Issun complained.

"It'll come back down." I said, then smirked. "Just like us."

"Wait, what does that mea-ahh!" Issun screamed when I jumped into the empty elevator shaft.

"We're alive."

"Huh?"

Ammy jumped down next to us. "I thought we'd find something down here."

"…okay, I'll admit, that was smart…now how do we get back up?"

"The pretty green glowing light in the middle of the room." Ammy answered.

"I think the term 'physics defying Nippon' just got changed to 'logic defying Nippon.'" I said as I opened all the chests and Ammy bloomed the clovers. Issun tossed a feedbag to the mice in the room, and then we stepped into the beam of light, taking us back to the elevator.

"My turn!" I announced and drew a cherry bomb in the middle of the elevator. Let me just say, 'fast' doesn't even begin to describe that thing. It was like a freaking rocket. I'm amazed I didn't sustain some weird internal injury.

After walking into the next room, we found a monster scroll. And we did what we do best in that situation.

We all ran into it without a second's hesitation and prepared to kick some ugly monster butt!

After successfully killing another frank, we grabbed the newly made key and rode the elevator up to the third floor.

"Who turned out the lights?" I heard Issun's voice.

"There were no lights in here to begin with." I pointed out.

"We're outside, Celia." Ammy informed me.

"Wait, we are?"

"Hey, I can sorta feel the wind…but it's cold!"

"Don't you dare try to hide in my kimono."

"I won't! Jeez!"

"You'd better not."

"Come on. Let's keep moving."

"Yeah, just one question. Where the heck do we go?"

"You're just sitting on my shoulder. You don't even need to worry about that."

"Follow the sound of my voice."

"The sound of your voice is behind a fire. I'm going the other way."

"Uh, Silver? You might not wanna-"

"Ow!" I put my hand on my forehead after running into something. "Well, that hurt."

"Here." I felt someone walk up to my side. "Just stay with me. I can see better than you." I obeyed, putting my left hand on Ammy's back. So after about five minutes filled with trips, quips, and epic fails galore, we finally made it to the highest platform and my eyes had somewhat adjusted to the dark. Just enough to make out shapes, but that coupled with my memory from the game (And Ammy guiding me.) was enough to keep me from falling off any edges.

"…I would say this is a nice view, but I can't really see anything."

"You can look at the huge windmill." Issun suggested. I turned around and gasped.

"Whoa."

"I saw it from down in the village, but I had no idea it was this big!" Amen to that. Except replace 'down in the village' with 'Okami.' "Hey, what's that?"

"Are poncle eyes better than human eyes?" I complained.

"Apparently. So just ignore what I'm saying for now, Silver. But that stuff is swirling round in front of the big windmill. It almost looks like wind, but it's black and foreboding. It's as if the wind were being forced in the opposite direction. I wonder if that swirling evil air is what stopped the windmill? Maybe that's why the divine wind stopped blowing? If so, it must be the work of that Crimson Helm! Wonder how we could get rid of that evil air…" I knew Ammy used her celestial brush when I felt divine wind starting to blow all around us. Issun kept cheering her on as she got rid of all the black wind, and soon the normal wind was back and everything was light again!

"Thank Kazegami!" I yelled. "Well, and you too, Ammy."

"I know what you mean." She replied.

Issun, being the helping character, still apparently had more to say. Because all gamers know that the helping characters just never shut up. (One of the reasons I've never played Ocarina of Time right there.)

"Now that the divine wind's back, I bet the big windmill will…" Cue said windmill starting to turn again. "Yes, yes, yes!" Issun cheered while Ammy pulled off some epic flips. "It's starting to spin again! Look how strong the divine wind's blowing! Sure hope this drives away the evil down in Kusa Village." The sky went dark again. "Hm? Now what?" It never ceased to amaze me that Issun always had the exact same reaction whenever we were about to get another brush technique. We all filled in a star (And, yes, Issun didn't fail like he did on his first attempt. Shocking, I know.) and then a horse came out of the constellation. It ran past us, but I sat on Ammy's back and she easily outran him. When we turned around, he skidded to a halt and hung his head in shame for a few seconds before talking.

"Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…for too long, I, Kazegami, god of wind, have walked a shadowed path. At last, light shines upon me. Use my power to manipulate the wind! Banish those who would seek to shroud this world in darkness!"

"Hey, I bet it was the divine wind that brought the wind god back." Issun realized. "Now you can use Kazegami's galestorm brush technique!" I honestly didn't' listen to Issun after that. The gist of it was this; drawing a swirly or loop-de-loop make wind. Simple. We practiced on a smaller windmill, which opened the gate on the door, since we were actually trapped on that platform.

"Ah…what a refreshing wind! And that door opened when the small windmill started spinning. This wind is nothing to sneeze at! Let's try this brush technique out on different things later. But this is no time to rest on our laurels! The big windmill's sending the divine wind down to the village…but that Crimson Helm still lurks somewhere in the Gale Shrine."

"Great, just when I forgot about it…" I grumbled. "Thanks a lot, Issun."

"You're welcome. And not only that, but that crystal thingy Waka mentioned has piqued my interest. Let's turn this place upside down till we find both of 'em!" But two seconds into walking, we spotted a treasure chest. Of course we had to get it, because what type of video game protagonists would we be if we didn't? We were currently standing at the top of some stairs, and a little ways away was another platform with a chest. Ammy went to get it, since I couldn't jump that far.

"It was a sun fragment!" She yelled to us once she opened the chest. "I think it's the third!" She ran back to us with the stone. We put the three pieces together and they disappeared into sparkles. I felt slightly stronger, like whenever we leveled up our divine attributes.

"Awesome!" I smiled. We backtracked to the elevator, thankfully with less fails than the first time through. Issun also figured out that we could put out flaming chests with our new power. We tried it on the chest near us, but sadly all we got was a dungeon map, which was pretty much useless at this point due to the dungeon nearly being over. But I wouldn't complain…out loud, at least. We stopped at the second floor to get the treasure inside the burning chest there (stray bead) and then went back to the main room.

From the main room we walked back onto the windmill platform, as I have officially dubbed it. The bad thing; the pathway was at a 90° angle with none of the sides connecting to the way we needed to go. The good thing; we had galestorm and could now use the wind to blow the windmills, which in turn moved the platform so we could get to where we wanted.

Where we wanted turned out to be a room filled with broken rafters, Konahana blossoms, flaming chests, and four giant banners with a picture of Kazegami on them. Ammy and I split up to get all the treasures and then met up on the rafter right before we would have to rump from banner to banner…from really high up…while trying not to fall…

"Hey, Ammy? Can I still take you up on that offer of sitting on your back?" I asked while looking at how far away the ground was.

"Get on." She told me with a small laugh and a good-natured eye roll. I gave her an appreciative smile and sat on her back, grabbing onto her fur for dear life as she jumped across the banners.

"Well, that was fun!" Issun said once we were safely on the other side.

"I'm never doing that again." I stated bluntly and kept walking, not even wanting to think about that experience. The next room was just a hallway with some flame-making statues. Yeah, like that'd stop us at this point.

Of course, we _did_ pause at the next door. Something in our minds just screamed 'Warning: Boss battle. Turn back if you don't want to die.' Of course, we went in by unanimous decision. There was no backing down from anything for us. After all, our motto was 'leap before you think.'

"Hm? You two see that?" Issun asked, pointing his sword to the other side of the room. "It's some kind of crystal. Looks like a berry or something."

"It looks more like a grape cluster to me."

"Hey, I bet it's the se-"

"No! We will call it the Grape Crystal from now on!" I protested just for the heck of it.

"No way!" Issun argued back.

"Grape Crystal."

"Se-"

"Grape Crystal."

"Se-"

"Grape Crystal, dang it!"

"No, Se-"

"Cut it out, you two." Ammy said. "Let's compromise. Since all Issun can ever get out is 'se,' let's call it the Se-Grape Crystal." We both stayed quiet. "Okay?"

"Fine." I grumbled.

"Guess I've gotta start over…I bet it's the Se-Grape crystal for dispelling Orochi's barrier! You know, the item that Waka guy was searching for. Sweet! We found it before he did!"

_Don't count your eggs before they hatch,_ I thought as we walked closer. Once we were about halfway there, the torches in the room all lit on fire. The fire all came together, flew into the air, and down came a giant…thing…just go look it up on google images, okay?

"A crimson helmet…hey, it must be the Crimson Helm!" Issun figured out. "Heh heh…he really does look like one mean dude. Better psych yourselves up for this one, you two!" The Satomi Power Orbs decided to come and join the party, too. Three of them floated around me and five for Ammy. "What the heck? Aren't these the Satomi Power Orbs? They gonna protect us or something?"

"Split up." Ammy commanded. She ran off to the right and I went to the left. Of course the thing had to target me. He charged and at me and I just barely dodged. By the time I had turned around and ran up to him, he wasn't stunned anymore.

"Oh, come on!" I complained and decided to switch my sub weapon to the Hurricane Beads and just use those. Crimson Helm started to charge an attack, but the problem was I had no idea what it was or if I could stop it. So when a giant wall of flames headed my way, I just braced myself…but nothing happened. And when I opened my eyes, I noticed there were only three orbs with me. So that was how that worked…

"Silver, dodge!" Issun yelled into my ear.

"Huh?" I looked up and saw Crimson Helm charging at me again. I dove to my right and tried to roll, but ended up epically failing. And to add insult to injury, the power orbs decided to protect me from that. I got to my feet, but not fast enough. This time I was actually hit by a giant sword. I clenched my teeth, forced myself to stay standing. I wouldn't have a chance if I was on the ground.

"You okay?" Issun asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. My side felt like it was on fire. I glanced at it to make sure it wasn't. Then something occurred to me; why the heck did I get hurt if I still had a power orb? I looked again and there was only one left. _What? _And then I remembered something.

"Issun? Is that your power orb or mine?"

"I dunno. Lemme check." He bounced off my shoulder and, sure enough, the orb followed him. He jumped back onto his normal perch. "I guess that answers that."

"That's totally unfair." I muttered and glanced over at Ammy, who was currently doing all the fighting. Only a few seconds after she won. "Okay, I take it back. _That's_ totally unfair." Ammy came back over to where I was standing when Crimson Helm started to back off. But then, out of nowhere, Orochi appeared. Well, kinda, anyways. All the heads were the exact same, and made of lava.

"Huh? Is he chickening out?" Issun asked in disbelief. "After him, Ammy! Quick!" He bounced onto her head. She was about to attack, but guess who interrupted?

Yep, Susano.

"Back, you cur!" He yelled. "I'll handle this one. Charge!" He jumped at Orochi.

"What the heck's he doing? He's gonna get sliced and diced! Looks like it's time for some brushwork, you two!" Of course, like always, Susano attacked all the heads while yelling stuff out. Then he got carried away. (Again, typical.)

"Now for some wind!" Ammy swished her tail and Susano's wish was granted, the wind causing him to spin around. "Yes, wind! More wind!" I snickered after I used galestorm. He looked like a total idiot. "Now you're talking! Wait…there's more!" Issun did it this time, making a comment about Susano barfing sometime soon. Said warrior then went into the air, sliced Crimson Helm, and struck a battle pose at the end. Of course, it wouldn't be Susano without mentioning his stupid conspiracy theory about his sword being possessed.

"Now I'm positive…this is not my doing." _Yeah, it's ours. Now can you just shut up, be thankful, and go back to Kamiki?_ "It's the gods! They toy with me!" Hey, he asked for wind. "Will you never stop mocking me? You hear me up there? Are you happy now?"

"Susano, are you okay?" Ammy asked, taking a step forward.

"He can't understand ya, Furball." The wolf goddess just sighed and watched.

"Oh, why must I bear this burden of being Nagi's descendant? All I wish is to live in peace! Do you enjoy dogging my every step?" Normally, I would've made a sarcastic comment or two, but I felt bad for him like I had at the beginning of the dungeon. (Especially knowing more than Ammy and Issun. Spoilers are not always good, kids.)

"You okay, pops?" Issun was becoming concerned as well.

"Blast you gods!" Susano yelled, startling all three of us. "I don't want your power! This whole world can fall to ruin as far as I'm concerned." _Okay, that was a bit uncalled for_. "Enough of these 'legends' and 'Nagi's descendant' stuff! Now, just leave me be!" Orochi (Only one head.) appeared again, scaring Susano so much that he fell to the ground.

"Wh-what the heck is that?" Issun asked.

"Yikes!" Susano was shaking in fear. Ammy tried to help, but there was apparently a barrier blocking the way. "G-g-go away!" Susano stuttered. "Huh? That voice…one after the other…you're driving me crazy! Stop it! I don't want to hear about that now!" He suddenly ran off. "Go away! Leave me alone!" Orochi looked at us for a split second, smirked, and then left.

Issun gulped. "What was that?" His question was interrupted by Ammy getting the Life Beads and me getting the Solar Beads. (Am I getting better at naming stuff yet?) Ammy's head suddenly snapped up and I followed her gaze to find…

"_Bonjour!_" Waka greeted. "Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"Oh brother…it's that half-baked prophet again! Hey…that's…that's…"

"What, this?" Waka held up the purple crystal. "It's the Se-"

"Grape." I interrupted. "We renamed it Se-Grape Crystal." Waka looked at Ammy for confirmation, and she nodded. He just sighed.

"Fine. It's the Se-Grape Crystal, and it's mine at last!"

"You've got a lotta nerve muscling in on our goods like that!" Issun's glow was red. "We found it first!" I sat on Ammy's back again and held on as she jumped up onto the platform where Waka was standing. Pain exploded in my side and I slid off Ammy and onto the ground, holding my side.

"Ack!" I felt like I would die right then and there. I didn't know the wound had been that bad…

"Got injured again, _mon etoile_?" I heard Waka sigh. "I can't keep healing you forever, you know. You need to learn how to hold your own in a fight." With all the pain I was in, I didn't even care to respond.

"Hey, you got your butt kicked by her a few days ago!" Issun pointed out. "Wait…did you just say you healed her before?"

"How do you think she was turned human? And given a cast? And besides, I was going easy on her in that fight." Well, that put a dent in my self-esteem.

"If you turned her human, why are you pointing out that she's weaker? It's your fault for that. She would've been able to dodge if she was a wolf."

"Actually, she would've been hit by a wall of flames, which is worse."

"I'm…still here…ya know." I pointed out.

"Here." Waka said and I saw a spirit globe roll towards me. I reached for it and put it against my side, healing it quickly.

"Now that that's been resolved, can we have our Se-Grape Crystal back now?" Ammy asked politely.

"It won't do you any good." Waka replied. "I mean, I'm the only one who can dispel the barrier with it. You know, the barrier at the Moon Cave, Orochi's stronghold." As if he heard us talking about him, Orochi let out a roar. "Hm? You calling me, big boy?" Waka chuckled. "Keep your scales on, I'm coming."

"Hey! What's going on? Why ya goin' over to Orochi's place?" Issun questioned.

Waka just gave a small laugh. "Oh, I almost forgot. Time for another prophecy." He spun around and blew us a kiss. (…I'd comment, but I had already gotten used to the weird antics by then.) "I foresee a rendezvous with a sweet little thing. Anyway, I must be off. _Au revoir,_ baby!"

"Now you wait a second! Dispel the barrier at the Moon Cave? What the heck's he up to?"

"He's probably planning to go in there and fight Orochi himself." I answered. (Spoilers are helpful for once!)

"There's no way he can do that. He'll end up getting himself killed." Ammy said with concern in her voice.

"This is no time for your victory howl, Furball! We gotta get outta here and get on with our mission, quick!"

As soon as we were out of the shrine, we were met by Princess Fuse and the canine warriors. "Why, my favorite wolf and little bug have returned!" Great, now I was being ignored by Fuse, too. "When the windmill at the shrine began spinning, I knew it was you. A most refreshing wind began to blow down into our village." She jumped for joy. "You have defeated Crimson Helm and restored the divine wind! The canine warriors rejoice, but they're a handful as usual…"

"They look like they're just lying there."

"I don't know how to thank you for all you have done…"

"I, too, would like to give thanks to the heroic travelers." All three of us turned our attention to Yatsu. "And Princess Fuse, last o the Satomi House, you have done well."

"What? You know Princess Fuse?" Issun asked.

"Indeed I do, for I was her husband and head priest of the shrine! My lingering fears about Kusa Village kept me here, but thanks to you I can now travel to the great beyond. Princess Fuse and the canine warriors still have much to learn, but I have no doubt they will prosper. I shall watch over them. Farewell, I shall pray for your good health and prosperity!" And with that, he disappeared.

"What is it, you three?" Yay, I'm being noticed again!" What were you looking at?" She seriously couldn't see Yatsu?

"Oh, nothing." I said.

"Anyway, Princess, there's no need to thank us." Wow, that coming from Issun? But I knew what he was trying to get at.

"Just keep protecting the village as head priestess of the shrine." I told her.

"I have been rather feeble since the last head priest perished…" She admitted. "But as head priestess, I shall now dedicate my life to the shrine while keeping the remaining five canine warriors in line!"

"That's the spirit!" Issun cheered.

"I see that you must continue your journey…I shall pray for your good fortune."

"Thanks." I smiled. We actually got 30 praise. Then we left her to try to train the Kusa 5. Once we were outside, Issun stopped us.

"Whoa there, you two! Let's think about our next step before we scurry off. Was that shadowy creature really that monster?" I would've accused Issun for still being afraid to say 'Orochi,' but I was still in Nippon and didn't want to take any chances. "Our future's pretty bleak unless we do something about it. I mean, I'm too young to die!" I rolled my eyes. "I'd like a chance to use all those brush techniques, too!" He was quiet for a second. "Ammy, you didn't so much as growl at that monster. You slayed him long ago, right? I bet your partner Nagi was the stronger of you two."

"Or maybe the legendary sake really packed a punch?" I suggested, because there was no way that Shiranui was weak.

"…yeah, it must've been the sake." Issun agreed. "And the legendary sake is back in Kamiki Village, isn't it?"

"If Kushi was able to get that barrel back." Ammy answered.

"And isn't it about time for the annual festival? Let's go see if we can get a taste of that special brew!"

"That's not where I thought you were going with that."

"Issun, Ammy's a wolf, I'm thirteen, and I'm sure you're not old enough to drink sake, either."

"Uh…well, a good festival's always fun anyways! If I could get Sakuya a little tipsy, then maybe…heh heh…" I face-palmed and Ammy gave Issun a disturbed look. "Ammy, Silver, I suddenly feel like a new man! Let's go!"

"It's not even the afternoon yet. We have plenty of time to get back to Kamiki. And…" I took out my paintbrush. "We should try out our new brush technique."

Of course, we explored Kusa village first, since we were already kinda there. We went down a path that we'd never actually walked down before, (We took a left after going down the stairs in front of Princess Fuse's house.) crossed a bridge, and got onto a high platform by using Konahana Blossoms.

"Ah, isn't it wonderful to feel a nice breeze blowing again?" A man who was already on the platform asked us. The monkeys behind us were being really loud, so Issun tossed them a feedbag to get them to shut up for a few seconds.

"Yeah, the wind does feel good." I agreed.

"I can't tell you how happy I was to see the windmill start up. Princess Fuse is amazing, ousting that Crimson Helm brute like that!"

"That was us." I heard Issun mumble quietly.

"Now Kusa Village can sleep easy again at last! I wonder if I'll be able to spot that floating island in the sky." Ammy's ears perked up in interest.

"Floating island?" I asked.

"My grandpa told me there's a land up there called the Celestial Plain."

"The Celestial Plain…" I heard Ammy muse.

"That's where all the great gods are supposed to live. I don't know, though. It's all a bit far-fetched if you ask me." He turned his attention back to the sky and we decided to continue on, making very, very slow progress over a wooden beam.

"So, you used to live on the Celestial Plain?" I asked Ammy.

"I guess…" She answered.

"What do you mean, you guess?"

"If I did, I don't remember it."

"You don't remember _anything?_"

"Nothing before being revived."

"So you don't know anything about the legend of Shiranui that we don't know?"

"Pretty much." She sighed. "It's like I'm less than a week old."

"Have you tried to remember anything?"

"Every spare second. But I never get anything. I can only recognize familiar things. Like when that person mentioned the Celestial Plain, and…"

"And…?"

"Waka."

I paused for a second, but forced myself to keep moving. "I guess that makes sense. He said he knew you, after all."

Ammy nodded. " I suppose."

"Uh, hey, you two? Look who we've got." Issun said. Ammy and I looked in front of us to find…

Blockhead. Oh joy.

"Ha-ha! I am-"

"Blockhead. You guard this place so that none shall pass." I interrupted.

"No! I guard this place so that all may pass!" There was an awkward pause. "Er, wait…yes, so that none shall pass!"

"Hey, haven't we seen you before?" Issun asked skeptically.

"What are you talking about? I am the one and only Blockhead! And those who would claim otherwise are in for it!"

"Don't worry, we already killed the last imposter."

"Are you trying to break through my air-tight defense?"

"Pretty much."

"Ha! Nothing can harm this body of mine!"

"Except a few dots."

"Of course, there _are_ those weak points of mine. A clean blow there would slay me in an instant! But I wouldn't be foolish enough to expose such a weakness! Now be on your way! None shall not pass!" Ammy just tackled the wall, we found his weak points, and… "Hee hee! That tickles! Now you shall feel my wrath!" Rocks randomly fell from the sky, forcing me and Ammy to run around like idiots trying to dodge.

_Twenty eight attempts later…_

"Finally!"

"Huh? Were my weak points so obvious? I have failed, but let it be known I died a warrior's death!"

"I found my new least favorite enemy."

"At least he's dead."

"Until we come across another."

"…I hate my life." Even more so when we were rewarded for our efforts with a bull horn and two clovers. That was really not worth it. And afterwards we found some streamers to cross! I refused to go across and just waited for Issun and Ammy to come back with the treasures, which happened to be a sun fragment and a stray bead. Once we were back in the main part of the village, we used galestorm on a wind powered well, somehow making a whole bunch of flowers bloom. This, in turn, made a little girl happy, and we got some praise. After that we made a quick stop at the merchant, selling all our treasures and buying three gold dusts, a pinwheel, and a mermaid coin in case of an emergency. Then we went through Taka Pass, Agata Forest, and Shinshu Field, getting pretty much every treasure we could fine. By that time the sun had already set and it was time to go to Kamiki Village and watch the drama unfold.


	17. How to kick an Orochi's butt

I'm really sorry for the late update! Really, really, really rea-well, you get the point. If you haven't read the update on my profile, I'd suggest you go do so. I've got the explination there, as well an aproximate update schedule for the next 2 weeks.

All right, another random thing I'd like to mention-I made an ask account on DA for Celia yesterday because I was bored and I was procrastinating. If you have no clue what that is, the gist of it is this: You ask her a question, any question you want, and she'll answer it. In a picture. You can also just make a random comment if you have nothing better to do at the moment. Question, comment, whatever the heck you want. She'll give her input. And if you're going to do that, I'd suggest doing it soon, I think she's dying of boredom over here...  
>Celia: *staring at computer screen on the next tab, waiting for a question*<br>Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...you get my point. Anyways, here's the link. (Without the spaces. Seriously, have you ever tried putting spaces into the URL bar before? Yeah, it doesn't work...) http :/ ask- celia. deviantart. com/

Thanks to Yue Twili, Greentabbycat, Rainbow Guppy, Wingy, Shadow, Senom, Lilac, Lily, Sayuri, Oni, NeonGreenSheep, Kalade, the annonymous reviewer, (honestly, I'd be able to murder Navi with no regrets just because I already know how annoying she is...without even playing OOT) Gentle Catastrophe, Storm of Roses, and Hakura. Cookies for you all! ...Celia?  
>Celia: *eyes still glued on computer screen*<br>*sigh* Like I said before, I think she would like some questions and comments already...*hands out cookies to everyone*

Disclaimer: If I owned Okami, would I be making a FANFICTION? No. I'd be making a game. With Kurow in it. kthxbye.

Chapter 14-How to kick an Orochi's butt

As soon as we got close to Susano's house, we could see all the villagers crowded by the front door. Ammy and I shared a glance, then ran over to them all.

"Hey, what's everyone doin' in front of Susano's place?" Issun asked.

"You come out this instant, Susano!" Mr. Orange commanded. "You have some explaining to do! How could you have drunk the sacred sake meant for Konahana?"

"Huh? Susano did what?"

"You can come out, Susano. We're not mad at you." Mrs. Orange added softly. Yeah, because her husband didn't sound mad _at all!_ "You must've had some reason to drink up the 8 purification sake."

"Uh-oh. This is bad. Why would you drink all the sake, pops?"

"I don't care if it's so special!" Susano yelled. "I couldn't help myself. I just had to have a drink!"

"You seriously couldn't have just asked Kushi for some Thunder Brew?"

"Well," Mr. Orange replied. "It wasn't any old sake, and this isn't any old festival! It's been exactly 100 years since Nagi and Shiranui's great victory! We've even been blessed by a glorious full moon!"

"Yeah, not to mention Orochi is free." I muttered under my breath.

"How could you have done such a despicable thing?"

"Leave me alone! I don't care about Nagi and his fleabag friend! I am Susano, the greatest warrior who ever lived!"

"What exactly happened, anyways?" I questioned.

"There isn't a drop of 8 purification sake left?" Issun added. I could tell by his tone that he was freaked out.

"Susano was acting like a madman when he returned to the village." Mushi answered. "He drank all the sacred sake and then holed up in his house. All the sacred sake Kushi brewed is gone."

"Why'd pops have to go and do that? This is terrible. I mean, 8 purification sake is what saved the day in that legend! The timing couldn't be worse, with the return of Orochi and all."

"The dreaded Orochi…" Susano interrupted when Ammy looked like she was going to say something. "It's all my fault. I'm to blame for your misfortunes!"

"That's right, you fool!" Mr. Orange shook a fist. "Do you realize what a fix we're in without any sacred sake?"

"Old man, this a lot more serious than giving that sake to Konahana!" I snapped.

"It was I who committed that terrible act at the moon cave. It was I who brought Orochi back to life." Susano admitted. Everyone except me gasped, since I already knew. I at least tried to act surprised. "I have brought utter destruction upon the world!" He started sobbing.

"Huh? What is that fool talking about?"

"You idiot. Orochi is free because Susano accidentally released him. Do. You. Understand?" I said through clenched teeth. I think he got it by then, or at least I hoped he did.

"I was sick of hearing how I'm a descendant of Nagi! I wanted to prove it was all a lie by removing the sword Tsukuyomi. But the legend was true, and I've unleashed an unspeakable evil! And the curse consumed all of Nippon!"

"This is madness! You removed the sacred sword that imprisoned the dreaded Orochi?" Mr. Orange finally seemed to be getting it. And then he looked slightly panicked.

"I fled to the village out of fear…then, I blocked its entrance with a boulder and hid underground. After that, I tried fleeing here and there…but the gods would not leave me be! Ever they stared down at me! They let it be known that I'd never be forgiven…at least, not until I slew the dreaded Orochi!"

"I know that Tsukuyomi was removed and the Moon Cave vanished…but that means…Orochi's rite of sacrifice…"

"…still applies." I whispered. As if on cue, Orochi roared. Everyone began to panic except Ammy, who ran and jumped onto a rock. Why? I seriously don't know. In the distance, we could all see orbs with different kanji on them appear. Fire, darkness, wind, water, lightning, light, poison, and earth. _All the elements that Orochi can control…_ all the villagers (plus me) ran out onto the bridge. The orbs were spinning around at this point, and they soon merged, turning into an arrow. Then it shot towards the village. "Everybody, out of the way!" I yelled when I remembered that it went strait over the bridge. I spotted Ammy push Mr. Orange out of the way. Mrs. Orange dodged by herself. I pulled Kushi with me when I realized she was petrified. I figured that Hayabusa got Mushi, like I'd seen in the game before. Everyone slowly stood up, Kushi being the last. When she saw the arrow was in her house, fear flew into her eyes.

"On the eve of the full moon, the 8-headed dragon shall appear, and the accursed arrow shall mark the name of the chosen maiden." Mr. Orange said. "It is exactly as the legend tells! If we don't offer the chosen maiden as a sacrifice, our entire village will be wiped off the face of the earth!"

I saw the fear in Kushi's eyes suddenly turn into determination. "Susano, you're no coward. If the gods tell you to fight, you're the only one who can! You can do it! After all, you saved me, didn't you? I know you can do it. I know you'll come!"

"Wait, Kushi! You're not going to…"

She ran into her house and in about ten or fifteen seconds tops she came out in totally different clothes and she was holding a jug of sake. I seriously had to wonder how she did it. "Behold, my Thunder Brew!" She held up the jug of sake. "The great Nagi intoxicated Orochi and defeated him! My sake is my life. Surely it can intoxicate even Orochi!" Then she ran off towards Shinshu Field.

"Hey, Kushi! Wait!" Issun yelled after her. "She's not going to take on Orochi, is she?"

"No, Kushi! Wait!" Mr. Orange tried to follow her, but ended up stopping a little farther than the bridge. Great stamina for a break dancing 80-year-old.

"She can't go to the Moon Cave. She'll be gobbled up by Orochi!" Issun freaked.

"Get on." Ammy told me. "We need to get to her as fast as possible." I complied, and we ran off to find Kushi. Good thing for us, she stopped before she even got to the main part of Shinshu Field. She was kneeling on the ground, out of breath. (Did everyone in Nippon lack endurance? Sheesh.)

"You okay, sweetie?" Issun asked.

"Don't you try to stop me, Issun. Or you too, Snowy and Celia. If Orochi's chosen victim runs away, disaster will befall Kamiki. But…that's not why I'm doing this."

"What?"

"There's too much suffering in the world. I'm going to use my sake to rid us of this evil menace!"

"Are you crazy?" Issun yelled. "We're talking about the dreaded Orochi here! That attitude's gonna get you killed! You really think you'd win with a little jug of sake?"

"Yes, Issun…I guess I am crazy." Kushi said quietly, then in a more determined tone "But it's the only way. My sake is the only answer." She stood up and turned towards us. "I'm going! And I'll defeat that monster with my sake!" I jumped off Ammy's back and looked at her.

"Okay, we'll take you there." I told her. A split second later Ammy threw Kushi onto her back.

"Not you, too! Both of you?" Issun complained. "Dang it! Why ya gettin' all worked up? There's no hope of winning!"

"That's probably what Nagi thought. But he faced Orochi anyways." Ammy replied wisely.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn ya!"

"Are you sure you can keep up?" Kushi asked me.

"It's only to the Moon Cave. I'll be fine." I told her. "Ready, Ammy?" I looked down at said wolf, and she nodded. "All right, let's go!" We made a beeline for the Moon Cave, with Issun muttering every once in a while about how we were gonna die. We just ignored him.

Guess who was waiting for us at the entrance?

Yep, Waka. Could my life get any worse?

"I knew you'd come, Amaterasu. And you too, Celia." He said without even turning towards us, which made me wonder if he had eyes in the back of his helmet or something. "I take it you enjoyed your rendezvous with the sacrificial girl, eh?" He laughed.

"None of your business, ya half-baked prophet!" Issun yelled. Waka totally ignored him and started to make more poses (Yeah, hadn't seen that in a while.) and took out the Se-Grape Crystal.

"Hey! That's the Se-Grape Crystal he stole from us!"

"No duh, Einstein."

Waka let go of said crystal and it somehow stayed suspended in the air. Then he took out his katana, pointed it at the crystal, and stabbed it into the ground. Of course, he also had to take out his flute and play his own theme, which I could tell by then was his favorite song. The barrier disappeared along with the Se-Grape Crystal after the song was over. Waka took his sword out of the ground and then turned around. (Hooray for accidental rhymes.)

"Well, the Moon Cave is open. You've played your part. Now leave the rest to me, Amaterasu and Celia." The ground started to shake and then Orochi's head attacked us all at lightning speed. I felt teeth grab hold of me and I let out a scream without even meaning to. I recognized the room where the boss battle would be before something hit my head and I lost consciousness.

"Ugh…" I moaned. My head hurt like heck. Where was I?...then I remembered what happened. My eyes opened instantly. I was currently on Orochi's back. I could see that Kushi was lying unconscious next to me. This was not good. I had to make a plan and get the heck out of there as fast as possible.

But before I could put much thought into it, Kushi woke up. And judging by her expression, I assume she was more terrified than she was when the arrow struck her house.

"Kushi!" I whispered softly, hoping I could get her attention.

"You were caught too?" She asked in surprise.

I nodded. "Keep your voice down. I think Orochi is sleeping right now." I glanced down at the ground below us. "Listen, we need a plan."

"But what?"

"…I honestly have no clue. Bet let's at least get off snakebag's back first." As soon as I stood up, a voice exploded in my head. If your mind can go deaf, I think mine did for a little while after that.

"You will both stay right where you are!" Kushi gave me a desperate look, obviously meaning she had heard it, too. The bell on Orochi's back started to ring and before I knew what was happening, my vision went black again.

I felt the ground rumble under me. This time around my mind already knew where I was. And if Orochi was moving, that meant that Ammy had finally arrived. Orochi's heads emerged and the entire chunk of ground that Kushi and I were on started floating. I looked in front of me and spotted Ammy fling a piece of paper off her face that suspiciously looked like a ninja mask. I would've face-palmed if Kushi and I weren't in so much danger at the moment. I made a mental note to ask Issun about the mask later.

"O wild god of the heavens…" Orochi said. "100 years have passed since you imprisoned me here. How is it you have come back after perishing and turning into stone? 100 years in a cold, stony tomb…you reek of decay!"

"I've heard enough!" Issun yelled. "Bottoms up, big guy!" He tossed the Thunder Brew at the fire head, who decided to be an idiot and drunk it. But it didn't have any effect on him and he tossed the now empty jug at Ammy. She dodged it, growled, and then tried to hit Orochi with the life beads. But unfortunately, that did squat. She was pushed backwards from the impact and landed on the ground, growling.

"That cheater has a barrier up!" Issun huffed. "What are we gonna do now? Any bright ideas, Furball?" The heads decided to ignore Ammy for the moment and decided to bring their attention to me and Kushi.

"Oh crap." Kushi and I stood back to back, totally surrounded by all the heads. My heard was pounding in fear, but I still tried to hold a glare at the fire head. It just snickered at me.

"Run, you two! Run!" Issun told us desperately, but that was kinda hard to do when we were in the middle of a circle of Orochi heads. Kushi tried to hide behind her arm, bracing herself for an attack. I managed to hold my ground, although I'll admit I closed my eyes when the fire head was seconds away from swallowing me.

"Hold it right there, vile serpent!" I opened my eyes and saw Orochi inches away from my face. He turned towards the source of the voice.

"Susano!" Kushi gasped, and I just had to smile. "You came! I knew you'd come!"

"Have no fear! Susano is here!" I rolled my eyes. "Orochi and I have a score to settle." Kushi looked surprise, Ammy jaw dropped, and I'm pretty sure Issun had some sort of similar reaction.

"Pops?" He asked unsurely.

The fire head came face-to-face with Susano. "Long have I awaited your coming, O descendant of Nagi. Now we shall fulfill this burning desire which has consumed us. The descendants of Nagi have kept me imprisoned here for 100 years. Yet it is that accursed bloodline which shall unleash my true power. A pact between Nagi's descendant and I, the great Orochi, shall deliver unto me dark powers beyond all comprehension. Let us seal the blood pact for all eternity!"

"What the heck's serpent breath talking about?" I faintly heard Issun ask. "A blood pact with Susano will unleash Orochi's true power?"

"O he who seeks power, your first chance slipped through your grasp. But now the time has come for us to seal our eternal bong! Speak the words 'I wish darkness upon the world.' Utter that prayer unto me and seal our blood pact. You too shall be given dark powers beyond all comprehension."

"Orochi's trying to temp Susano!" Issun realized.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" I yelled over to him.

"You're welcome, Sergeant Sarcasm!" He replied. "I bet that sneaky serpent was the one giving Pops those nightmares!"

"Now, utter the prayer!" Orochi told Susano. "Let the words come from deep within! Recite the words of our blood pact!" Everyone was quiet in anxiety.

"Oh, I shall!" Susano nodded. I would've jaw dropped…if I didn't know what was coming, of course. He coughed and pulled out his sword. "I am the descendant of Nagi! Behold! Susano, the greatest warrior who ever lived! Hear me, vile serpent who would seek to harm helpless women! Your time is up! Feel the wrath of my trusty sword!" He tried to stab the fire head and after a second he broke through the barrier. The head recoiled and was having a spaz attack. It was all I could do not to laugh at it. Probably because I was still ticked at it for nearly eating me a second ago. "Foolish beast! Did you really think you could deceive me? The only pact for me is the one that comes with my bloodline! If it's my fate to fall battling evil, then so be it. I seek help from neither god nor demon!" Really? 'Cuz Ammy sure helped him out a lot… "The heroic bloodline of Nagi is all I require to slay you!"

"Look!" Kushi pointed to the jug of sake that used to have the Thunder Brew. Golden sake was flowing out of it and filled a small mote around Orochi. (Another example of logic-defying Nippon: How the heck did one small jug of sake fill an entire mote?)

"The 8 purification sake…" I whispered, then looked back at Kushi. "I've got an idea." I ran over to the bell on Orochi's back and started to hit it with my Solar Beads.

"What are you doing? And where did you get that?" Kushi asked in awe.

"It doesn't matter where I got them. Here." I pushed Swirling Lotus into her hands. I vaguely wished that I could've given her the Infinity Judge, but Ammy and Issun had it. I'd have to settle for what I had at the moment. Kushi just stared at the reflector she was holding. "C'mon, a little help would be nice. Ammy needs to get up here to hit this bell, but it'll take a while for her to get enough heads drunk to do that. We can do some damage to him before she gets here." Kushi, although still slightly confused, just nodded and helped me damage the bell. After a while, Ammy climbed up and joined us. Since Kushi and I had already been working at it, Orochi's first stage was already done in one attempt.

Ammy jumped off Orochi's back and I was about to follow, but stopped and turned around. "Stay here, Kushi. This will be the safest place until the end of the fight, trust me." She again nodded, and then I jumped down to the ground.

"So, you finally decided to join the party?" Ammy asked with a smile.

"Meh, I prefer being the hero to the damsel in distress. He just caught me off-guard, that's all." I shrugged. Although I was mentally scolding myself for being caught; after all, I should've seen it coming.

"So, I go clockwise, you go counter?"

"Sure, why not?" I left my friend to deal with the fire head and went straight to the earth one. "C'mere. I know you wanna attack me~" It growled and slammed into the ground. A shockwave went through the ground, but I just dodged it. "Hey, stupid! I want an actual fight, please!" The comment apparently made it angry, which was exactly what I was hoping for. It roared at me, giving me an opportunity to use waterspout and put sake in its mouth. It fell to the ground so I finished it off with brush techniques.

Next up: Poison head. No trash talking this time. It spewed poison at me which I easily blew away with galestorm. I just examined my fingernails with an uninterested look. (Note: I don't consider body language technically 'talking.') It roared in annoyance, I made it drunk, it was dazed, I finished it off with Solar Beads and the occasional brush technique.

I glanced up at the light head. "So, what can you do?" In response, it lunged at me, which I just sidestepped. "I was thinking more of an elemental attack, but I guess that works…even if it _was_ pretty pathetic." It growled and I took the chance to use waterspout. It became drunk, and I totally spammed inferno. (New brush technique learned in the Moon Cave, for those of you who haven't gotten this far yet. Given by Moegami. Figure out what element it controls on your own.) That is, until I ran out of ink.

"You've gotta be kidding me." I grumbled. Luckily, I had an inkfinity stone, so I was fine.

I walked up to the lightning head slowly. "Please don't' tell me you're just as big of a disappointment as the other three heads." It tried to hit me with a few balls of lightning, which I barely managed to dodge. Call me crazy, but I was thankful for the small challenge…but of course, it became confused and lost sight of me. I heaved a sigh and powerslashed it. "Over here, dumb butt." At least it was smart enough to figure out that was an insult and roared. I used waterspout and, just for the heck of it, kept using it until the lightning head was down. Ammy and I met up back at the fire head, and all the heads just randomly woke up and glared at us. Again, how? Too many plotholes lately…

"The time has come!" Susano said as he ran up to us. (Yeah, he just watched the entire fight without even offering to help. Some 'great warrior,' huh?) "O sacred moon of the heavens, come forth and pierce this darkness! Bear witness to the beast's demise upon my trusty sword Tohenboku!"

"Did he say moon?" Issun asked. "Right! The legend says the moon was shining when Nagi slew Orochi." The scene that happened 100 years ago flashed before my eyes. In black-and-white. WTH? Ammy and Susano copied the scene perfectly; Ammy let out a howl and Susano pointed his sword at the sky. But even though the clouds parted, I couldn't see the moon.

"Go ahead." I heard the same voice from back at Sasa Sanctuary. "You know what to do." I gave a small nod and then used crescent, not caring if Susano or Kushi saw me. As expected, the moon appeared in the sky and shone on Susano's sword, turning it gold. And, of course, the small leaf turned into a flower. Can't forget that important detail.

"Susano-Style Blade of Truth!" Susano attacked Orochi's heads one by one, with me and Ammy helping, until only the fire one was left. It looked over at all its other heads and then reared in anger, charging up what looked like a seriously powerful attack.

"Finish it off, you two!" Issun commanded. We both ran forwards, but stopped when Susano held out his arm to block us.

"No, Fido! I don't need your help this time! Or yours, Lassie!" His head was turned a little bit and I knew he was glancing at us.

"Do you have to call me that when I'm human?" I complained.

"Now for the ultimate in Susano-Style martial arts!" He, of course, made a pose. "Celestial Cleaver!" He jumped in the air and, almost in slow motion, sliced Orochi's fire head clean in two. I have to admit, I was impressed. And then Kushi somehow fell from the sky and into Susano's arms. But I just decided not to question the third non-logical thing that had happened within the past five minutes.

"Dearest Kushi…" Susano started as they both looked at each other. I was silently praying that they wouldn't end up kissing in front of us or something. "Just as you devote your life to sake brewing, the way of the sword is all I know…yet I have failed, for I unleashed that foul beast upon the world. I allowed evil to cloud my judgment. Who am I to claim the right to wield a sword now? Alas, there is no reason for me to live-"

"Oh, Susano. Why do you look so serious?" Kushi interrupted him. "Come on! Laugh like you normally do! Looking like that is what makes monsters turn up. So come on! Laugh! Laugh like you always do when you help me harvest the rice every year!" Susano was quiet for a second, but then started chuckling. I spotted Kushi smile, but apparently life didn't want Ammy and I to pay attention, because at that moment we got a new weapon: Tsumugari. We all looked over at Orochi, who burst into purple flames. Ominous black mist came from it, floated into the air, and then disappeared in a flash.

_And so it came to pass that, 100 years after its first defeat, the dreadful Orochi succumbed to Amaterasu, Celia, and Susano's onslaught. As the foul breath left Orochi's twisted body, the curse lifting, a powerful sword known as Tsumugari appeared. It was the reborn form of Tsukuyomi, which had been consumed by Orochi. Armed with this new blade, Amaterasu and Celia prepared for further adventure._

_At that moment, a mysterious evil force emerged from Orochi's corpse, splitting off in all directions and flying off into the distant sky. At that time, no one had any inkling as to just what that force was. The truth is, the real calamity and chaos had yet to visit the world. But for the time being, Kamiki found itself enjoying a new era of piece. Our story, however, is far from over. In fact, it is only just beginning…_

"That's right, you two! We're just gettin' started!" Issun was happily bouncing on Ammy's muzzle. "I mean, we can't let a great adventure simply end like this. Now gimme one of those famous victory howls of yours!" Ammy complied, letting out a mighty howl. I noticed that the clouds in the sky were coming back, so I used crescent one more time to make the scene more epic. Because, c'mon, I had to do _something!_

"At last…at last the time has come. The unseverable bonds between heaven and earth…Waka, the situation has grown urgent. You must return to the city at once."

"_Tres bien!_ Amaterasu, Celia…you may have slain Orochi this time, but do not assume it will be so easy the next."

"Check out that starry sky!" Issun exclaimed once we got out of the Moon Cave. "I know they're up there somewhere my furry…and not so furry…friends! Those constellations of the brush techniques are just waiting to be found!" Fireworks started to light up the night sky. "Whoa! That must've been one of Tama's fireworks. Wonder if the villagers already found out that Orochi's dead?"

"How is that possible, Issun?" We haven't even gotten back yet." I pointed out.

"Anything is possible in logic-defying Nippon." Ammy gave me a smile, and I laughed.

"I can't believe I'm still questioning these things at this point.

"Wait." Susano stopped us at the Moon Shrine. "I'll be right back." He quickly ran inside. The four of us left outside didn't say a thing, we just stared at the building until Susano came out…with a kid in his arms…

_What?_

"Hey, where'd ya get the kid, Pops?" Issun asked.

"I found him in the water." Susano explained. "I left him in the shrine so Mica could take care of him until I got back. He even gave him some clothes." The kid started to open his eyes, although _veeeeerrrryyyyyy slooooooooowwwwwwwlllyyyyyyy~_ All right, I think you get the idea. Needless to say, we all totally freaked out until we remembered he wasn't a baby first learning to talk or something.

"The fireworks must have woken him up." Ammy guessed.

"So, you gonna take care of him, Pops?"

"Uh…" Apparently that thought had never occurred to him…idiot. "I guess. I can raise him as my son. The child of Susano, the greatest warrior ever!" I face-palmed. He was getting cocky…then again, he acted like that 99% of the time. I guess it wasn't really anything new.

"What are you going to call him?" Kushi questioned.

"Kuni." Susano replied with a smile.

"Ungh…what happened?" Kuni finally opened his eyes completely.

"Um…how's about we let the greatest warrior ever answer that one." I suggested. Said greatest warrior ever shot me a glare, which I returned with an innocent smile.

_One long explanation later…_

"Okay, can we go to the festival now?" Issun asked impatiently. "It's time to party!" We all rolled our eyes as we made our way back to the village. As soon as we got there, Susano and Kushi just left me to look after Kuni. Did I look like a baby-sitter?

"Meet back up with me in an hour, okay?" I whispered to Ammy. She nodded, and then ran off, leaving me with Kuni. He looked overwhelmed by everything. I couldn't really blame him. The festival was so huge and loud, even I was kind of effected by it all. And this wasn't my first visit to Kamiki, unlike the little guy next to me.

"Hey, look! Mushi and Kokari! I'm sure they'd like to meet you." Kuni nodded, but seemed uncertain. I sighted and made him look at me. "Come on, Kuni. You're the son of a great warrior now. Act at least a little brave."

"…I guess you're right…" He put a fist into the air. "I am Kuni, son of the great warrior Susano!"

I smiled. "That's the spirit." We walked over to the two other kids, who instantly rushed to meet Kuni. But after the introductions and such, Mushi demanded me to tell them all what happened. So I ended up telling three kids and two Satomi Canine Warriors what happened at the Moon Cave. Okay, I'll admit, I had to make most of it up since I wasn't really at the main part of the cave with Ammy and Issun, but I was able to make up a fairly believable story based on my playthrough of Okami. Ammy arrived strait after I was finished with the story. Figures, I wouldn't get any real free time. Kuni said he'd be fine with Mushi and Kokari, so I left him there.

"So…what'd you do?" I asked Ammy.

"Dug up some turnips, talked to some people, watched the fireworks, got a stray bead, and jumped down a waterfall. You?"

"I told those kids a story…and you went down a waterfall without me?" I gasped, fake hurt in my voice.

"We can go back to it later." Issun dismissed, totally ruining my fun. "I wanna watch more fireworks!"

I held back the urge to face-palm and just went with it. So Ammy, Issun, and I did that. Of course, when your friends have very short attention spans, you all tend to start doing different things and loose track of each other quickly.

"Where's Issun?" I asked Ammy, noticing our tiny companion wasn't with us anymore. One look told me everything. "Even after three other people have passed out drinking it? Yomigami, he's an idiot…" My palm made contact with my face. "I'll go see if I can get him back to his senses before he says or does anything he'll regret." I grumbled, marching over to a giant green barrel.

Just like I had expected, Issun was lying on the ground, probably knocked out like the others who had tried to drink the Thunder Brew before him.

"I can't believe you." I poked him. "Hey! Issun! Stupid little poncle! Wake up!" Strangely enough, my Navi-like approach got him to jump up instantly.

"Hey, babe. Watcha doin'?" He asked in a flirty tone, his words slurred.

"You have had way too much to drink." I commented, letting him jump onto my hand. "All right, time to get you to your senses."

Attempt #1

"No! I can't swim! Have mercy on my life!" Issun struggled out of my grip.

"Oh, come on. I'm not going to let you drown." I said in an exasperated tone, simply watching the poncle bounce away in terror.

Attempt #2

Ammy spat Issun out of her mouth, giving a disgusted look.

"Please don't ask me to do that again."

"I won't. I know how bad he tastes."

Issun, who I presumed was currently wobbling back and forth by the look of his glow, just ignored the wolf-spit bath he had taken and asked me "Hey, babe. Did it hurt when you fell from the Celestial Plain?"

Ammy and I both groaned, me putting my slightly-blushing face in my hands. This was going to take a few days at the rate we were going…

Attempt #3

"Hey, Issun! Treasure!" I pointed to a treasure chest on one of the islands that Ammy had kindly dug up for me.

"I don't see a treasure…unless you're talkin' about yourself."

"Amaterasu help me!" I yelled in frustration.

"I already tried." Said wolf called back from the village. _Wow, I was that loud?_ I fell back against a giant rock, sliding down until I was sitting. Issun jumped onto my knee, and with an annoyed glare I flicked him into the water without a second thought.

Attempt #4?

"Come oooooooon!"

"Issun, you're already drunk. I'm not having the Thunder Brew."

Attempt #5

I sat on one of the roots of Konahana, staring up at the full moon in the sky. It helped with the frustration. A little. I had honestly just given up. Ammy went to explore the Cave of Nagi, no doubt going to run into Susano and Kushi at some point. I would've joined her had I been in wolf form at the time…

Dang, everything would've been a lot simpler if I was a wolf already. My arm had stopped hurting already. I would've even enjoyed watching Issun's drunk antics, trailing behind as I would watch him get into stupid situations.

But I wasn't and that was that. My biggest concern was just staying away from the poncle at the moment until he came back to his senses. And hoping he wouldn't cause any damage while I wasn't there to supervise…pfft, that makes me sound like his babysitter or something.

"Hello." A voice from above pulled me out of my thoughts. Without even looking to check who it was, I gave a small nod.

"Hey, Sakuya." Said wood sprite was quiet and I could feel her gaze on me. "What? Am I really that interesting to watch?" I snapped.

"Are you troubled?"

"Yeah, there's a drunk little poncle down in the village, most likely wreaking havoc on some unlikely person. And I can't go down to stop him unless I want to be that 'lucky' one." I told her.

"You could have just asked me to help. My power can fix things like this."

I forced myself not to show my anger at the situation. "Thanks for telling em that now." I said through clenched teeth and watched as a nearly-transparent wisp of pink smoke flew into the village. "All right, I might as well go fix any damage he caused." I sighed, jumping off the root I was standing on.

I searched the entire village. No sign of him. I went to the sacred deck. Still, nothing. I checked all three islands. Nope. I felt like there was a cloud of frustration floating over my head…heck, for all I knew, someone back home was watching this all on the TV screen and there _was_ a cloud over my head.

"Look up." A voice whispered. I looked around for the source, but didn't see anyone. Although I _did_ spot a Konahana Blossom. I used vine, then ended up on a cliff. A bloomed clover told me Ammy or Issun had been this way already. I used another Konahana Blossom to get even higher up the cliff and then came to a peaceful pool of water, jumping onto a lily pad near the edge of a waterfall.

Muttering a small thanks for the weird logic of Nippon, I turned my attention to the fireworks. I barely had to look up from where I was currently sitting. I just hoped none of them would hit me, but I tried to put as much faith as I could in Tama's firework skills.

"What're ya doin' here?" I heard Issun's voice ask from behind.

"What are _you_ doing here?" I countered.

"Dunno. That Thunder Brew is pretty strong stuff."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I figured by how many times you tried flirting with me."

"How d'ya know that wasn't on purpose?" Issun questioned slyly. "After all-" He stopped. "Erm, Silver? You're…glowing…"

"What the-" I looked at my hands and they were faintly glowing gold. Everything suddenly starting growing, and I swear I heard someone softly laughing at my shocked expression. "Heck?" I finished when I stopped shrinking.

I noticed another, more familiar laugh become apparent. "The look on your face was priceless!"

I instantly turned around and gasped when I saw a kid about my age, maybe a year older standing in front of me. I assumed it was Issun by the bug helmet he was wearing. I didn't even bother to pay attention to his appearance. Besides, if I did that he'd notice and it would just result in awkwardness. I narrowed my eyes at him, not looking away and still slightly ticked at the previous comment. The only other thing I noticed was that his eyes were green…a really pretty green…okay, what the heck?

"Hey." Issun poked my shoulder. "Come on, say something!"

"Something." I said plainly. The response just seemed to amuse him.

"That's the Silver I know." He flashed me a smile, which I was unsure to return. I felt totally out of my element, even just shrunken down to the size of a bug. Issun may have been my friend, yeah, but not to mention he's a pervert, a player, and he just got over being drunk.

"Can you please explain to me why I'm tiny?" I requested in a calm yet no-nonsense tone.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe it was Shamiterasu?" He suggested as I sat down on the huge lily pad.

"Shamiterasu?" I couldn't keep the curiosity out of my voice. Issun sat down in front of me. He was way too close and I felt awkward, but there was a small part of me that liked being close to him and didn't want to move. I can't believe I listened to the minority of my mind.

"It's just an old story; no one knows if it's actually true or not, but Shamiterasu is said to be the daughter of Shiranui herself."

"What happened to her?" I felt kind of stupid asking all these questions to Issun. It made me feel like a hypocrite every time I thought of him as clueless.

"She tried to help out in the battle with Orochi, but was killed defending Shiranui. Now she travels across Nippon, helping people out sometimes. She's probably hanging around, watching us since she's technically Ammy's daughter."

"So, we're being stalked by a dead wolf? That makes me feel great." I said sarcastically. "And what's her intention for making me small?"

"_To help you with your love life."_ I nearly jumped in surprise. _"Oh, come on. Don't ne shocked. Think of it as…me taking the role of a helpful older sister."_

"Helpful, my foot." I muttered.

"_All right, fine. Don't accept my help. But wouldn't you like a chance to give Issun a taste of his own medicine?"_ That definitely perked my interest. _"I thought so. Just do what I tell you to do right when I say to and we'll have some hilarious results."_

"Ya know, you look kinda cute when you're thinking." Issun commented, pulling me out of my conversation apparently only I could hear.

"_Try to play hard to get."_ I mentally gave Shamiterasu a WTF look, but didn't argue.

"Oh, really?" I asked with a slightly unamused tone.

"You think I'd lie?"

"Possibly."

"Do you like me?" That actually caught me off-guard. Random direct question is random and direct. I blinked in surprise and couldn't figure out what to say.

"I may or may not." I answered, regaining my composure.

"That's not an answer."

"It was a clever answer."

"Can ya be a bit less clever?"

"Maybe."

"You're dodging the first question."

"Great observation, Sherlock."

"So is that a yes?"

"Not necessarily."

Issun narrowed his eyes and I had to force myself to stifle a laugh, although I did let my smirk show. I could keep this up until the festival was over. Issun once again tried asking a direct question.

"Do you think you'd ever kiss me?"

"Isn't the guy the one to kiss the girl?"

"Maybe I'm not a normal guy."

"Why? Just because you're two centimeters tall?"

"You're playing hard to get."

"No. But I am enjoying this conversation greatly."

"What would Shamiterasu think?"

"Actually, she'd be applauding me." The funny thing is, I could hear her doing just that in my mind.

"Oh, really?" Issun raised an eyebrow.

"Yep."

"Our faces are really close." Issun stated bluntly, but with a huge smirk. I just noticed that he was right; our faces had somehow gotten a lot closer. I saw a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Your point?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to keep my cool even though my heart was definitely beating faster than normal. Part of my mind was telling me to back up. But most of my mind didn't mind in the least. Ugh, stupid self-conflict.

"D'ya want to me show my point?"

"_Kiss him."_ Shamiterasu told me.

_WHAT? ARE YOU MAD, WOMAN?_ If thoughts can be yelled, then this one was screamed at the top of my lungs.

"_Just do it. Trust me, this will scramble his brain real good."_

In all honesty, the thought of me and Issun kissing had crossed my mind before Shamiterasu had even mentioned it to me. Her egging me on wasn't helping in the least. _What in the name of all the thirteen brush gods am I doing?_ I thought before I leaned forwards and pressed my lips against Issun's. The shock didn't last long for him. But I backed off a lot faster than he had expected. The shock from _that_ was clearly evident in his eyes. My head felt slightly fuzzy already, and my mind was telling me to wait and let him kiss me. The small logic that hadn't been smothered in my brain forced me to stand up and walk to the edge of the lily pad.

"Was that your point?" I asked, forcing a smirk and a small laugh before turning around and jumping down the waterfall. Once I hit the pool of water at the bottom, I felt myself change. I didn't fight back as I not only grew, but was turned back into a wolf. After it was finished, I quickly paddled to the surface. Then I got out of the water, shook my fur, and went to go find Ammy, hoping that my mind would go back to normal sometime soon so I'd still be able to enjoy the rest of the festival.


	18. New experiences

All right, here comes the long paragraph with me apologizing and such...

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in...how long? A couple of weeks? Right after I had to make up for another amazing update schedule fail? Yeah, not good. I swear, life just doesn't like me sticking to my new update schedule. Seriously, I was being constantly grounded, (To the point where when I got home I would wonder 'Am I grounded again?') I'm frantically running around from fanfic to fanfic trying (And failing, I'm aware.) to update them all, I spent Thanksgiving Break with my dad, my mind has been on Four Swords, I'm quickly losing inspiration for one of my other fanfics, and everything is just a big, crazy mess for me. Not to mention I'm trying to be a lot more focused on school and other activities now for a lot of different reasons. I'm feeling really overwhelmed here. And stuff just keeps getting tossed onto my plate whether I want it to or not. All this also explains why I haven't really been replying to PMs, reading and reviewing stories I normally keep up with, ect. Now that my long paragraph is over...

Thank you Storm of Roses, Okami Saphira, (or should I call you Frosty the Snow Glaceon now...?) Senom, Lilac, Lily, Sayuri, Oni, TheManWithBacon, EonnCrystal, NeonGreenSheep, Kalade, Rainbow Guppy, Wingy, Shadow, Werewolfchild101, Cardcaptornicole, and Crimson Elemental Alchemist for reviewing. I'm amazed that I'm getting so many new reviewers. Seriously, when I'm typing these chapters, I'm always trying not to head/desk because I feel like I need to make it better. I know I can, but I just can't figure out how to. Your reviews...they just give me the faith and courage to be posting all this, I guess. You can't believe how much every new review means to me, especially when I'm crazy busy and frustrated with everything. Here's some cookies for ya. *hands out cookies to all*

Celia: Desi doesn't own Okami. She can only dream.  
>Rude. -.-<p>

Chapter 15-New experiences

"Come on, you two. It's time to go." Ammy said. I yawned and opened my eyes. I was lying on the rock next to the bridge, and I could tell my fur was STILL damp from swimming. Judging by where the sun was, it was still pretty early in the morning.

"Do we have to go now?" I complained. "I want more sleep."

"It's not my fault you stayed up late jumping off that waterfall.

"It's a fun pastime!" I protested. Then I decided to wake Issun up 'cuz I knew he'd been up late, too.

What? Misery loves company, especially when the company is an annoying little poncle. I tilted my head and Issun slid off and onto the rock, waking him up instantly.

"Ow…I feel like I was run over by Crimson Helm…" He groaned.

"That's called a hangover, and you should've figured out not do drink the Thunder Brew. Mr. Bamboo, Karude, and Bob all reacted badly to it." Ammy and I waited for him to slowly climb back onto my head. "Ready to go, bug boy?" I could tell that he didn't want to be called that at the moment. Then again, he never did. Ammy and I just made our way to Shinshu Field but, of course, we were interrupted by Sakuya appearing once we got there.

"Amtaterasu, Celia…you have only just preformed your duties, yet you still plan to leave?"

"There's not much left to do here." I pointed out. Ammy nodded in agreement.

"My heart aches at the thought of our separation."

"Sakuya, you didn't have to come all this way just to say goodbye!" Issun said. "Boy, you're sure uptight for a tree spirit."

"But…" Sakuya continued, ignoring the previous comment. "At the instant of Orochi's passing, I…" She paused.

"You what?" All three of us asked at the same time with a growing bad feeling.

"I quite clearly saw a swirling black mist. In the confusion, I distinctly sensed an evil other than Orochi. I'm not sure what it could be. Is there something else at work? Shinshu has been restored. Of that there is no doubt. But nature's tormented cries ring out in other parts. Especially chilling are those emanating from the capital in the Ryoshima Coast beyond the bridge in Taka Pass."

"Well…we were plannin' on visiting that place anyway…" Issun trailed.

"So why not kill two birds with one stone?" I finished.

"The black essence born of Orochi's husk…it was moving toward the capital as well. I cannot say for sure exactly what that means. What I do know is that whatever has plunged this world into darkness has not yet finished toying with us. This ordeal is far from over."

"Is that it?" Issun asked in disappointment. "No sage advice for us heroes?"

"She stays in Kamiki 24/7, Issun. How would she know anything else?"

"My apologies, little one. The challenges you face on your journey will be many."

"We've faced challenges before. We'll be fine." Ammy told Sakuya. The wood sprite nodded.

"Though you will grow weary, you will prevail. The road you travel will be fraught with peril, but I pray that the fresh scent of flora will protect you. Amaterasu…Celia…Issun…I wish you a safe and fruitful journey!" And she (Finally!) left.

"She's gone…" Issun said softly, then his voice went back to its usual volume. "A safe and fruitful journey? After what she said? Gimme a break! But I always knew getting all the brush techniques wouldn't be easy. On to the capital! First stop, the City Checkpoint at Taka Pass!" Ammy and I shared a glance.

"Race ya!"

I dragged myself to where Ammy was patiently waiting for me. I was exhausted. My lungs were on fire. I flopped to the ground. "All right. You win." I grumbled.

"Don't you want to look around?" She asked.

"Nah…I'll be fine just resting here until I die." Ammy sighed and started to poke me with her paw. I growled, but finally opened my eyes and stood up. "Whoa." There was a _huge_ bridge on the other side of the area. Our only problem- apparently the drawbridge was ordered to be up by Queen Himiko so no one could get to the city. Yup, that wasn't suspicious at all.

"Let's try talking to the guards. Maybe they know what's going on." Ammy suggested. We ended up talking to the guard who was shooting apples, since the other one was sleeping and refused to wake up for more than two seconds.

"Hello there!" The archer guard said.

"Give him puppy dog eyes. Maybe he'll let us across." I whispered to Ammy. We both gave him looks that could've stopped entire wars.

"What's the matter, poochies? Why the sad looks? You'll never get anywhere looking like that. It's bad luck!" I sighed and quit it with the bambi eyes, as did Ammy. "I'm Yoichi, the greatest archer among all the city guards!"

"Holy smokes! That's some bow ya got there, mister!" Issun exclaimed.

"What's this? You two brought a friend along with you? This is my trusty bow, Goldenfire, the most powerful bow in all the land! Guarding is rather dull work, so I pass the time practicing archery. I'll show you two what I can do. Watch this!" He launched an arrow right into a cannon next to the drawbridge.

"Wow! Bull's-eye!"

"Pretty good, eh? There's not a target Goldenfire and I can't hit! Now, my friends…why not have a bite to eat and relax a bit?" He tossed us an apple and went back to practicing archery.

"Yeah, but how are we gonna get to the other side?" Issun wondered.

"I think I've got an idea." Ammy told me.

"Huh?" I stopped gnawing on the apple and looked up at her. She used inferno on one of Yoichi's arrows and when it landed in the cannon…well, there were a lotta explosions, I'll say that. But the drawbridge fell down in the process, which was a plus.

"What in the world? This is terrible! Nothing like this has ever happened before!" Yoichi gasped.

"Yeah, it would be kind of concerning if it had."

"My arrow suddenly burst into flames! Oh, no! I just remembered I have business to attend to back in the city! Well, seeing how the bridge is back down and all…I better get back to my guarding job in the city. And I'm not just saying that only to disappear on some adventure…Yoichi, the greatest archer, would never dream of such an act! Well, goodbye, and good luck!" And then he left, leaving a trail of apples in his wake. (Thank the gods for our Golden Lucky Cat.)

"10,000 yen says he ran off on an adventure." Issun wagered.

"10,000 yen says he's not even in the city." I finished my apple and stood up.

"All right, let's go." Ammy said. We ended up getting sidetracked halfway across the bridge by a konahana blossom, though.

After about five vines there was a tall island, I guess you could say, with a treasure chest. We stopped there to wait for our ink before continuing onward. We barely made it to the last island without having to use an inkfinity stone. There were a whole bunch of torches on the next island, which kinda freaked Issun out at first, but after using galestorm he was fine. We got the treasure, a stray bead, and then jumped off the island and swam back to shore. After that we went along the area, digging up any clovers and treasure chests we found. We also got rid of some demon scrolls 'cuz Ammy wanted to try out Tsumugari!

Let me just say this: I WANTED A GLAIVE!

Once we finally got to the other side of the city checkpoint, we ended up fixing the mess we had made with the power of preschool drawing skills! It didn't make sense, but I wasn't going to question it considering it gave us praise. And enough to upgrade our ink at that.

"Hey, hey! The big city!" Issun said when we were finished with everything. "You two'll probably find the pace of city life pretty shocking. Especially you, Ammy, considering how you were stuck out in the boonies for 100 years! As for me, I can't wait to check out all the cute babes! Heh heh…" I rolled my eyes and resisted the urge to snatch Issun off Ammy's head and leave him in my wolf slobber-y mouth for an hour, considering Ammy probably wouldn't approve. After a few minutes of running we arrived at Ryoshima Coast.

"Hey! What the heck's going on? Orochi's stupid cursed zone spread all the way here? I mean, this is even past the city checkpoint! And besides, we already did away with him. I can't believe the cursed zone hasn't gone away here! It must've been one strong curse for this wasteland to survive even after its maker croaked! Still, I wonder…"

"Issun, this probably wasn't from Orochi." I interrupted.

"She's right." Ammy backed me up. "Sakuya said that there were other monsters in this area. It's likely they've made the cursed zone."

"Let's go find the Guardian Sapling already! I hate this atmosphere." Ammy and I obeyed, taking a left at the first fork in the road. We kept following the path until we were so kindly interrupted by our newest enemy.

Aw, but imps were so easy to kill! Oh well.

Ammy went ahead and attacked it, still having fun with using Tsumugari. (And I again wished for a glaive.) From force of habit, I accidentally powerslashed the enemy for the floral finisher. Issun started ranting about it (Even though we had 90 fangs already, so we were just fine.) while Ammy just said it could've happened to any of us. We kept going while listening to the seemingly never-ending rant (Seriously, I would've been in Ocarina of Time as opposed to this torture. 'Hey, listen!' would've been such a relief to hear at that moment.) until we got to a puzzle. Issun kept thinking of a way to solve it while Ammy and I just did so ourselves, using waterspout to fill up all the dry ponds with water. The one at the top was a mote around a tiny tree. Once we filled that with water, the tree almost instantly grew into a guardian sapling.

"My turn!" I announced and bloomed it. I was standing on the very edge of the cliff to see as much of the divine intervention as I could.

"I know what to do!" Issun suddenly yelled out proudly. I stared at him, and even Ammy glanced up with a weird look on her face. "Oh, hey! Look! That curse is outta here! Now _this_ is the Ryoshima Coast I know and love! Actually, I don't know it all that well, but…see that sunken ship? I don't remember ever seeing it there before…but anyway, Ryoshima Coast is where you'll find the big city! Sei-an City is just a bit of a walk from here. You'll find almost everything you could imagine there! How 'bout we mosey on over!"

"Wait." I grabbed a seed feedbag. "We must feed the birds first." I heard Issun let out a sigh, but I fed them anyways. 'Cuz it got us praise. And praise was good. Especially if you're ink-obsessed, like me and Ammy. We also ended up feeding cows on the way back. And some foxes in front of Ankoku Temple. And…well, you get the idea.

While Ammy was busy feeding the foxes, I caught scent of something. It smelled kind of familiar…really faint, but familiar. Then I realized it smelled kinda like…Ammy.

I yelped and backed up. Apparently that caught Issun's attention, considering he bounced over to me.

"What's wrong, Silver?" I kept my eyes glued to the stone in front of me. "What? It's just a grave. You've never seen one before?"

"Yes, I have." I growled irritably at him. "It's just…I can smell Ammy's scent."

"That's because she's ten feet away from us, Fluffy."

"No, it's not that!" I protested, then sighed. "Fine. Believe what you want, but Ammy's scent is on that grave."

"I heard my name." Said wolf walked up to us. "What's going on?"

"Silver caught your scent and thinks it's coming from that gravestone." Issun told her in an annoyed voice. Ammy sniffed it.

"Well, I guess that's not impossible, is it? It could be where Shiranui was buried." Ammy said.

"And the scent lasted a hundred years?" Issun pointed out.

"She _was_ a god."

"Thank you!" I huffed, but then caught another scent. On the grave right next to the first. It reminded me of something, or rather, someone back at the festival…

_Shamiterasu._ How I could smell a ghost, spirit, or whatever, I really don't know. But it was unmistakable once I figured it out. It had to be her. I suddenly felt kinda bad for her. I mean, had she seriously been biding her time for all those years just waiting for her mom? And she had been pretty nice to me, too. Giving me strength back at Sasa Sanctuary, helping me play the ultimate prank on Issun…I'd only talked to her twice, and I already considered her a good friend.

"Earth to Silver…will you listen to me?" Issun yelled.

"Huh?" I looked over at him. "Oh, right. Let's just go." I started walking forward, but stopped to gaze at the giant bell. Ammy knew exactly what I was thinking. We both jumped up onto the platform and started hitting the bell multiple times.

"No, you two! Bad wolves! Stop! The sign said don't mess with the bell!" Issun was bouncing in what looked like a panic.

"Calm down, bug boy. It's not doing any harm." A small holy bone fell out of the bell and I gave him an 'I told you so' expression. "Besides, it's giving us items. That's good." I heard Issun let out a huge sigh and he jumped back onto Ammy's head once we had claimed a medium and large holy bone. I jumped down to the main path and saw a person. My video game logic told me to see if I could get any important information out of him. So that was exactly what I did. At the low price of nearly all my sanity! The dude wasn't wearing anything except a seashell. I'm sorry, but I don't consider that clothing. Public indecency, people. Be glad there are laws about that in our time. I just tried to ignore the disturbing fact while I listened to him.

"It's such a shame about the ship stranded out there on the rocks. I mean, it was so close to the port. But then it was attacked by that terrifying Water Dragon and sunk. People say there's an invaluable treasure in it, too. But the Water Dragon makes it too dangerous to sail there these days. You should think twice about bathing here, you know. The Water Dragon wouldn't hesitate to snap up a wolf like you." I gave him a clueless look, trying to learn more about it. "Do you not know about the Water Dragon?" I shook my head.

"The huge dragon god rampaging about in the seas and here. It's supposed to be the god of the sea, keeping peace in the oceans. But one day it just went crazy and started attacking people. All the ships selling food to the city were sunk by it. The queen must've been beside herself. Apparently there's an invaluable treasure on that ship. But it's been like that ever since the Water Dragon sunk it." I barked excitedly. Talking to this guy had definitely been worth it! "Interested in the invaluable treasure on the ship, are you?"

"Invaluable treasure is always good." I said even though I knew he wouldn't understand.

"Apparently it was carrying a huge cargo of treasure. I heard about this weird mallet that makes you as small as a bug." Guess who I was instantly reminded of? Actually, I wondered how tiny Issun would end up if we used the thing on him…that was a pretty funny idea. We'd probably have to look at him through a microscope or something. Ha.

"You can get past gaps as small as the eye of a needle with it. I can't think what on earth you could use it for, though. Anyway, you really shouldn't be bathing here. The Water Dragon wouldn't hesitate to snap up a wolf like you."

…redundancy? But that was beside the point. Video game logic told me that Ammy and I were getting that treasure sometime soon.

Isn't it great when you have no clue what to expect anymore after going totally on prior experience? Yeah, it's just a boatload 'o fun! Especially when you add the possibility of actually getting injured or dying! Yup, great equation! Nothing can go wrong there!

After talking to the practically nude fisherman and getting past my pessimistic thoughts, I met up with Ammy and Issun.

"Did you learn anything?" I asked.

"Nope." Issun answered. "But we _did_ figure out that you can't reach the top of the moon turret."

"…that was all?"

"We got all the treasures from the clams in the water." Ammy added.

"Um, you might not want go into the water anymore…"

"Why not?" Ammy tilted her head curiously.

"I heard that there's a rampaging water dragon loose. And I'm pretty sure something that can do that to an entire ship," I pointed with my muzzle to the sunken ship. "can do a lot worse to a couple of wolves."

"Okay. Let's not go into the water for a while!" Issun suggested. "But still, we need to check out the rest of Ryoshima Coast before going to Sei-an."

"You're trying to stall going there, aren't you?" Ammy accused.

"Why would I _not_ want to go to the city? Who cares about some stupid mist, I wanna see some babes!"

"Wait, what about mist?" I questioned.

"We heard a rumor about some mist in the city making everyone sick." Ammy answered.

"Then why did you say you didn't learn anything important?"

"Issun said it, not me." Ammy gave a wolf shrug while I glared at our poncle.

"Heh heh…" Issun chuckled nervously. "Aaanyways…we should seriously finish up here and get to Sei-an."

"All right. Let's go scribble, feed animals, help people, fight monsters, and whatnot."

Time skip to about the time half those things were done-(My memory of the unimportant parts aren't really that great, can you tell?)

Putting it simply, Issun pointed out there was a building on an island. Ammy and I apparently just had to check it out despite the recently made mutual agreement not to go into the water. We stared at all the obstacles outside just taunting us because we couldn't do anything about 'em yet, and decided just to go inside. After feeding some monkeys. (Gotta help the little earth buddies out, ya know?...Actually, that sounds like something Bob would say…)

"Look who's here! Greetings, my little wolf friends!" Onigiri Sensei greeted.

"Huh? Hey, gramps! What're you doing here?" Issun asked.

"I am as elusive as my fighting skills, friend. Be it a lone isle among the waves or the most frigid mountain peak, I forge a warrior's path throughout the land. And what has brought you here? Do you once again seek my tutelage in the fighting arts?" I nodded, and we commenced to look at the poster thing majig. I won't bore you with pretty much the same routine as our first dojo visit, so I'll brag about all the awesome stuff we learned! We learned how to double jump, dig through solid rock, and we added another hit to our (Or should I say, Ammy's…) glaive combo. I got the treasures outside while Ammy practiced her newly-learned skill on a few monsters. (Issun amazingly enough didn't comment about the demon scroll hovering outside a dojo this time.) I also found a treasure _inside the island._ Yeah, not kidding. And it involved a long, nerve-wracking process including swimming out into the water. But anyways, after getting back to shore, we ran into a depressed looking person.

"Where did he go…" The man in front of us mused. "I just can't think where my Inba could've gone. It's one of the dangers of keeping pets. Have you seen him, pups?"

"Something tells me we're gonna find him…"

"That 'something' would be you hanging around me and Ammy too long."

"Wait." Ammy stopped us right before we walked up to the port. She went to the left and dug up a buried chest. How she found that when the top of the chest was the same color as the sand, I will never know. "All right, we can go now."

"Finally!" Issun yelled. But when we took a few steps onto port, a…bird lookin' thing appeared out of thin air. I kept back a comment about how the monster was holding a freaking umbrella. Yeah, very threatening weapon. Nearly made me run away and cry for my mommy. "Oh, come on!"

"Just quit being impatient. We'll get to the city eventually." I told our friend and attacked the monster. But it just blocked my attack. Ammy used galestorm and I tried again. _Still_ didn't work. I growled in frustration while Issun used galestorm this time and Ammy quickly killed the monster with her awesome Tsumugari. Of course she got it on the first try. Unfortunately, we failed at guessing what the floral finisher was, but here's a little tip- It's not galestorm.

After that we went the end of the dock, fed some cats, (And for once made use of our fish feedbags! Gasp!) found a treasure chest, jumped off the side of the dock, bloomed a clover, found a pearl in a clam in a box in a clam, once again broke our water oath, went into a demon gate, learned that cherry bomb was also not the floral finisher for the bird monsters, fed a giant hoard of rabbits, fed a miscolored rabbit, figured out that the miscolored rabbit was Inba, took Inba back to the depressed dude, made the depressed dude happy, got a stray bead, bloomed a clover, and fed some cows. All to annoy Issun. Well, I did it to annoy him. Ammy was doing it to help people and restore nature and whatnot.

"I just realized something." I said dramatically right before we walked down the giant hill leading to Sei-an. "We forgot to visit Ankoku Temple." I saw Issun's glow flash blue for a second, then red. I just laughed and said something before he deafened everyone in Sei-an and Ryoshima. "I was joking. We can go back later." He didn't respond, so I just assumed he was angry for freaking him out so much.

"All right, let's go!" Ammy and I took off down the hill.

_Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. _I kept thinking to myself. But who was I kidding? Things in video games, and even real life, for that matter, are just never that simple.


	19. A visit to the city

All right! New chapter! And...all right, it's Monday, not Friday. I blame my stupidity of not realizing that it was a weekend I was spending with my dad. I was planning to type out most of the chapter on Friday. *shrug* Y'know, with how horrible I've been with updates being on Friday, I should probably just change it to Monday. Then I have an entire weekend to prepare...anyways, you guys can all thank sickness for this update being a lot earlier in the day than it would've been. I guess that's one way to look at my headaches, nasea, and other symptoms I'd rather not list optimistically.  
>Celia: Mama mia pappa pia, baby's got the-<br>*duct tapes OCs mouth shut* What. The. Heck. -.- Hearing my mom say that rhyme is annoying enough.

Celia, would you like to give out cookies this time?  
>Celia: *nomming on cookie* Huh?<br>That better be the cookie Wingy gave you...*munches on cookie*  
>Shami: While you two are busy doing that, I guess I have to thank the reviewers. Thanks to TheManWithBacon, Alex, Crimson Elemental Alchemist, EonnCrystal, Cardcaptornicole, Okami Saphira, NeonGreenSheep, Kal, Greentabbycat, Tabby, Storm of Roses, Hakura, Yue Twili, Cheep the Hedgehog, Rainbow Guppy, Shadow, and Wingy for all your reviews. Cookies for all. *tosses a giant barrel full of cookies into the crowd*<p>

One more thing before we get on with the chapter! Yes, I am aware I have been dead to the world of fanfiction for the past week or so. Sorry about that. I tend to feel guilty after failing at updates and just try to hide somewhere else until I feel safe enough to come out of the shadows. I'll respond to PMs, get caught up on other fanfictions, yada yada, soon. AKA after I take a nap. Have fun reading the chapter, guys. *collapses on bed*

Shamiterasu: Wow, she forgot the disclaimer...all right, she doesn't own Okami. She owns me and Celia, though.  
>Celia: Isn't it fun having little to no freedom?<br>Shami: ...*runs off to Celia's ask account*  
>Celia: HEY! GET BACK HERE! THAT'S MY DA ACCOUNT! *runs after*<p>

Chapter 16-A visit to the city

Sei-an City…well, it wasn't pretty, to say the least. All the trees were dead, there were a few cursed zones here and there, sick people were collapsed on the ground, the sky was a disturbing shade of green; it just wasn't good. The air even tasted weird.

"Huh? What the? I thought the big city would be a happenin' place."

"Does it look like a happening place now, Issun?"

Strangely enough, my comment didn't earn me a poncle-sized glare. "I've been here before, I know what it's supposed to look like. And it sure ain't this. What's up with this funky looking mist? It looks downright hazardous to your health! I wonder if people can actually live normal lives in this nasty stuff."

"Maybe we can help out a little." Ammy tried using bloom on some trees. No dice. The petals just turned black and fell off the branches.

"It didn't work?"

"No, Issun. The petals are really just invisible. Of course it didn't work!"

"Okay, okay! Let's just try talking to some people and see what's going on." We went to the right, since that was where the closest person was. He was down on his hands and knees, coughing enough to infect the entire world within maybe an hour.

"I wonder what Queen Himiko has been doing all this time. She's normally there for people, even us commoners. And until now she's been able to protect Sei-an City from evil. I don't understand why she would suddenly shut herself away! Queen Himiko, I beg of you! Please come to our rescue!"

"Oh, man…this looks bad, you two."

"Come on. Let's try talking to him." I pointed to a person on the side of the main path and we all walked over to him. He was lying on the ground, but he kept trying to get up, making it look like he was doing push ups or something.

"This is terrible! I need to deliver these letters without delay. But I'm in so much pain that I can barely stand up!" I grabbed a traveler's charm in my mouth, but Issun stopped me.

"I don't think that's gonna help this time, Silver." I hung my head in defeat and reluctantly put the charm away.

"The mist's thickened again today, too. Oh!" He told us. "Oh! Why does my body have to let me down, today of all days?"

"This mist does seem to make you feel sick and depressed…" Issun trailed. "Ever heard of anything like that before?"

Ammy shook her head. "I haven't been alive that long, Issun. You know more than I do."

"And a lot of this stuff isn't even possible where I come from." I put in.

"Okay, let's just talk to this guy with the awesome weapon." We, obviously, went over to said guy with awesome weapon. Strangely enough, he didn't seem to be sick.

"Hello there, mutts! What are you doing out here in the mist like this? Now's hardly the time to be walking around Sei-an. Not since that mist arrived so suddenly. The cursed zone's appearance hasn't helped matters either. Queen Himiko's gone and shut herself in her palace. And anyone else is hiding inside their homes. Shouldn't it be the job of our leader to help us through this?"

"I don't think I like the sound of this Himiko chick." Issun decided.

"Me either." I agreed. "Which ruler would just sit by to let their people suffer like this?"

"Anyway, business is slow to say the least." The awesome weapon dude said. "If you've been sent to do the shopping, then get it over with!" We sold all of our treasures and then looked at what he had to sell…and my heart nearly stopped when I saw a glaive. Seven Strike, a red sword whose edges were divided into seven parts. I gave Ammy the puppy dog eyes.

"We don't have enough yen." Issun pointed out. But I kept looking at Ammy, silently begging. After a minute or so, she gave in.

"All right. Let's go kill some monsters."

"Thank you!" I yipped like puppy and glomped her.

A day later…

"I can't believe you two seriously took that long. We had enough yen after two fights!" Issun complained.

"Yeah, but we'll have 40,000 left over. And we got a gold dust from Mica, so we don't need to buy one."

"We already had one."

"We did? Oh…well, now we have an extra. And we got more ink."

"Ink. Whoop-te-doo."

"Okay, can you two quit arguing and just buy the sword?"

"No to the first, yes to the second."

"Why am I not surprised?" We got the sword and I equipped it right after using a bag of gold dust on it.

"This is…awesome!" I barked happily.

"Can we get going now?" Issun asked.

"Yes we can, Mr. Impatient." We walked down the path, deciding not to talk to anyone else. (Probably because Issun just wanted to get going again.) Right before we came to the aristocratic quarter, said poncle stopped us as per usual.

"The city's bigwigs live across the bridge ahead. That area's crammed full of awesome palaces. One of 'em belongs to Queen Himiko, ruler of Nippon. You can tell because it's really huge. I've no idea what she's like, but I'm not sure I'll like her. I mean, she doesn't seem to do anything about this mist. Plus, I make it a point to never trust queens and the like anyway." After the little speech was over, Ammy and I continued onward until we came to a very deformed looking bridge. And we ran into someone. I don't even know how to describe him, so use google images for help. (His name is Benkei.) Or Youtube. Heck, buy the game yourself and play it up to this part. You're practically reading a written walkthrough of it!

"Hrmmm…" The person mused. "Where did all the water go?"

"How would we know?"

He started grumbling, then realized we were staring at him. "Oh, hello, poochies. Thinking about crossing the Gojo Bridge?"

"That's kinda why we're here."

"Well, think again! This bridge is a very special contraption!"

"…it's judge a wooden bridge…"

"With one command, I Can make it passable, and another, impassable! But there's a reason why I cannot operate it right now." He turned around, but Ammy and I both barked. He looked at us furiously. "Stop pestering me! I cannot make the bridge passable right now! At least not until the lake's water is restored and I get that elusive item…"

"So, we're going to get the water back, right?"

"Yep."

"All right, let's go."

We ended up checking everywhere in the waterways of the commoners quarter. There were a lot of treasures for whatever reason, so that was a plus. Eventually we found a sick person in the waterways. He said somethin' about not being able to help his boss because of his sickness or something like that.

"Okay, now I'm positive." Issun randomly blurted.

"About what?" I questioned.

"About the mist! I mean, it's making everyone sick and it wont' go away! It's downright unnatural! Seems there are still some people who are unaffected. But who knows what'll happen if this continues for a few more days?"

Ammy and I shared a concerned glance. "Let's find that carpenter." Luckily for us, (Although slightly annoying, since it was the last place we checked.) we found him pretty quickly after that.

"Curse that confounded Water Dragon, causing such a commotion!" He yelled in a rage. "How can the god of the sea be ruining the peace like this? I bet the dragon is to blame for the state of this canal, too. All that fuss has caused the lake to plug itself up!"

"Looks like there's trouble over here, too. Seems the whole city's a complete mess."

"Hm? Oh, did you come here for a drink of water, wolves?" Seriously, the downright ignorance of these people was really amazing. I mean, okay, I guess it's not every day you meet a goddess and a girl both turned into wolves, but I know that if I just saw a wolf, period, I would run screaming for the hills, not casually talk to it and share all my freaking life secrets with it. "I'm afraid it's completely dried up. This canal was a really important source of water for us. That's why I'm digging a hole to see if I can tap into it again. So many people are sick now that there's hardly anyone to help out. In face, I'm the only one left. One lowly carpenter."

"What about the dude with the awesome weapon? Or Benkei? Or the guards?"

"But I'll keep trying. You get quite fit doing my job. Now I can reap the benefits. I built almost everything you see here in Sei-an, you know. So there's nothing I don't know about the place. Wanna know where the key to this water source lies?"

"Um, where you're digging?"

"It lies in Lake Beewa's drain plug!"

"AKA: Where you're digging."

"You certainly seem to listen well for pooches. Maybe I should tell you more about Lake Beewa's plug, then." Great, story time with the old dude. Fan-freaking-tastic. "Sei-an City is floating in the middle of Lake Beewa. The water from it is what fills the canal around the city." I was vaguely reminded of Technacticlan. Stupid school lessons popping up at the dumbest times. "But the water dragon's antics have made the plug seal up. No wonder the canal is dried up. And that's why we're in this sorry state now. I'm sure that the plug is located beneath this area. If I can dig my way to it, the water should come gushing out! It's pretty exciting, don't' you think?"

"Uh…sure…" Ammy and I both said at the same time.

"If you think so, then maybe you could help me out!" We nodded. "It's a shame wolves can only answer with their eyes."

"What do you mean? We nodded!"

"Still, it doesn't matter what you are if you're willing to help. Now, listen carefully while I explain what you have to do." Which pretty much meant to go to sleep until the instructions were over. Ammy prodded me awake with her paw once the old dude was finished explaining.

"Are you sure you can do this?" She asked.

"Trust me; I'll know what to do." I responded.

"That looks like a yes to me. It's time for wolf and human to pool their energy together! Let's get going!"

There are really no words to describe what happened. But I'll try, anyways. It was pure chaos. We were in a hurry. Naguri kept running into spikes, which annoyed me to no end. Issun yelled at me whenever I did something wrong. I'd yell back. It'd turn into a fight. Ammy would uselessly try to break it up. That caused us not to pay any attention to Naguri, who would continually run into _more_ spikes. It's a miracle we finally got to the bottom with no casualties, that's all I can say.

"Look, wolves! Look at this wonderful water from Lake Beewa!" Naguri said happily when we were back on dry land…albeit soaking wet. I was amazed we didn't drown on the way back up. "Sei-an has had its fair share of hardships lately. The water dragon on the rampage, and that strange mist all over…but it matters not what trials present themselves to us. If we solve them one by one, we will emerge unscathed! I suppose my work here is done for now. Thanks, wolves. You did a good job."

"And now we can go across that bridge!" Unfortunately for us, when we got there, the bridge still wasn't up. "Hey, Benkei. Why haven't you made the bridge yet?"

He turned towards us. "Heh heh heh…at last, the time is near!"

"Time for what?" All three of us asked.

"Benkei the fisherman monk shall lay claim to his 1,000th sword!"

"…why'd you just refer to yourself in third person?"

"He's either crazy or stupid."

"You _do_ realize you just called yourself stupid, right?"

"The magnificent Issun does not talk in third person!"

"…right…"

"I have traveled far and wide challenging monster swordsmen. And 999 swords I have claimed by my own hand." Benkei told us. "But now that I have defeated all who would dare challenge me, that last sword has eluded me. I need but one more to make 1,000! And thus, aimlessly I have wandered…that is, until a legend drew me to Sei-an City. It is said that a living sword lives in the depths of Lake Beewa! Even I could barely believe it when I first heard, but they say a living sword swims freely about in these waters! If true, it would make a fitting addition as my 1,000th sword! This bridge is a very special comtraption."

"Yeah, yeah. We know. You can make it passable or impassable whenever ya want. Can you just let us across now?" Issun asked.

"I'm afraid not."

Cue the synchronized "What?"

"It makes the ideal place to fish. It grieves me to cut off access to the city, but I'm afraid this bridge shall stay this way while I fish for the living sword! Of course, that may be easier said than done…but this is no mere fishing trip for me. This is a true battle with the living sword! Therefore, I must arm myself with the right weapon. That fishing rod over at the tool dealer in town would be perfect! Oh, you should see it! It is the purest of white, like new fallen snow. There is no chance of victory without that rod! Alas…it would appear that I cannot afford it. Oh, what am I to do? Hrmmm…"

"Great. _More_ backtracking."

**After more backtracking…**

"Here is the stupid freaking fishing rod that only cost 5,000 yen, you cheapskate." I said and dropped the rod at his feet.

"Hrmmm? Th-th-that's…that's Blinding Snow, the rod from the tool dealer! With that fine rod, I would at least have a chance against the living sword! Now be good doggies and give it here!"

"It's lying at your feet, dude. Just bend over and pick it up. First you make us waste our money and now you're too lazy to pick up a stick."

"Quit ranting, Silver."

"Coming from the person who gave a lecture on the importance of demon fangs just yesterday?"

"Touché."

"Oh, happy day! I have never fished before, but it should not be much different from a good swordfight!"

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Now, to catch that 100th sword. I shall engage in mortal combat with that elusive living sword!" He stood there for a second or two, and then gave a frustrated look. "I have been holding my rod over this water for some time now. However, the living sword has yet to bite. But you know what they say-patience is a virtue. I shall sit here as long as it takes!"

"Oh, jeez…" I wished I was human for the soul purpose of being able to face/palm.

"Ammy, Silver…hoodhead here's never gonna let us across at this rate. Time for some of that angling magic of yours."

"It seems like we have to. The 'fishing rod' is just a stick that was painted." I pointed out.

"And whose fault is that?"

"We aren't wasting 40,000 yen on the other stuff if we can just use our celestial brushes, Issun."

"Bah…hoodhead here sure is a handful. I wonder if there really is such a thing as a living sword anyway."

"For the sake of Sei-an and all of Nippon, please let it be real!" I prayed.

"And you're looking up while saying that because…?" Ammy asked me.

"I have no clue. I'll make sure to be staring at you next time I do that."

"Okay, you two got the basic idea, right?"

"Yup. We've done it twice before."

"I dunno exactly what we're fishing for, but don't let it get away!"

"Tell that to the person holding the fishing rod."

"All right, let's catch ourselves a living sword!" It was pretty much the same routine as when we fished with Kokari. Rejuvenation, powerslash, fish. Oh, and Issun was there for moral support. After two gobies, we finally caught a giant eel. (Okay, it was a cutlass fish, but it looked like an eel to me.)

"The gods be praised!" Benkei exclaimed.

"Thank you, thank you." Ammy said jokingly and gave a small wolf bow. I snickered.

"At last! At last I have fulfilled my dream!" After that we were all quiet for a few minutes, just awkwardly staring at each other. Benkei was the first to break the silence. "So that is the living sword? That is what I have been pursuing all this time?"

"Aw, don't take it so hard." Issun said optimistically. "I mean, that _was _one big cutlass fish. And a cutlass _is_ a kind of sword, isn't it? Plus, what're the odds of catching an ocean fish in a lake?"

"Spare me such solace! But enough about that. A monk never goes back on his word! I shall make this jigsaw bridge passable once more!" And thus we continued onwards. That is, until we were stopped by Issun after only taking a few steps. But that's pretty predictable.

"Whoa! Stop, you two! I thought this mist was coming from the lake or mountains…so what's that stuff rising from the Imperial Palace? Let's keep going!" Unfortunately for us, (Or, more specifically, unfortunately for me and Issun.) we were then stopped by Waka.

"Well, well…look what the cat dragged in…what took you so long, ma cherie?" He asked Ammy.

"Ack…not you again!" Issun complained. I silently agreed with him. "Well, you can't fool us! We're not gonna forget what you did to us back at Orochi's cave!" Oh, yeah. I forgot that Waka tricked them into going into the Moon Cave even though we were planning to go anyways. "And why do you keep popping up wherever we are, anyway? What're you up to this time?"

"Issun, we all know he's a stalker…who seems to have a crush on Ammy." I said the last part with a smirk. My friends may not have known any French, and honestly, I didn't know much either, but with my limited knowledge I knew that 'ma cherie' was a term of affection. Kinda gross, considering Ammy was a wolf…ugh, beastiality...

"Hm? Excusez-moi, but I have no time to follow you around. Even to see Amaterasu." Ammy looked like she wanted to bury herself alive. It was actually kinda funny. "You see, I'm busy looking for something."

"Bah...some prophet you are. Shouldn't you already know where to look?" Issun pointed out.

"Well, maybe 'look' isn't the right word. I already know where it is. It's just..."

"You fail at finding anything or anyone except Ammy?" I tried. I think I actually got him to blush slightly. Like always, my comment was ignored, but seeing the blush gave me enough satisfaction. Seriously, why didn't I think of taunting Waka sooner?

"Getting there is proving to be a bit of a problem." He told us. "Suffice it to say, I want it quick and easy!"

"Quick and easy...? Wait a sec...don't tell me you're behind this funky mist? Is this part of a plan to conquer the city and take over the world?" That accusation earned the poncle three dumbfounded looks, but he just continued talking. "You're always up to no good, so ?I wouldn't be surprised..."

Waka was the first to recover from the shock and stupidity of the situation. "The world?" He asked. "Hm, not bad, my little bouncing friend. You're only half wrong..."

"Wait, you seriously want to take over the world?" I stared.

"Not quite. I seek the other world...I desire a path to the heavens."

"A path to the heavens? Oh, stop beating around the bush and let us know what's on your mind!" Issun yelled, becoming annoyed with the whole situation.

Waka chuckled softly. "This path concerns you, too, ma cherie." Ammy's ears perked up in interest.

"Huh?"

He suddenly changed topics. "This city is in quite a bad state, is it not? Especially this ghostly mist that torments its people..."

"You think we're stupid? We see right through you, pretty boy! We got ya all figured out!"

"Issun, what the heck are you talking about?" I questioned.

"I'm talking about this funky mist!" He addressed Waka again. "And your so called path to the heavens...you're in cahoots with Queen Himiko!" He accused.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So just take it step by step." The prophet advised. "You must first deal with this mist. It is slowly but surely killing the people of this city. Wait too long and it's au revoir! The damage will already be done."

"Why you-! Talking about it like it's someone else's problem!"

"He's flat out talking about people dying casually. Seriously, you're just as bad as Himiko." I growled.

"You're behind it all! Admit it already!"

Waka rolled his eyes. "Even if I was...what good would come out of arguing about it here? Methinks you should be doing something about the mist now. How about a tip this time instead of a prophecy?" He, like always, make a couple of weird poses before saying "Go through the hole in the wall, little ones!" Ammy and I just stared. He coughed awkwardly. "Ahem...let me put it this way...even the most solid defense has a tiny gap like the eye of a needle. Or something like that..."

"Thanks for the clarification." I said sarcastically.

"Understand, ma cherie?" Waka asked.

"Well, I know I don't." I commented.

"We'll figure it out eventually." Ammy tried to encourage us all.

"C'mon, you two! I'm sick of talking to this guy!" Issun huffed.

"Now that's something I can agree with." Totally ignoring Waka, we went forward, going into the building in front of us, since it really was the only place we could go. Upon entering, we met who I decided would probably be a main character. She was wearing a purple and yellow kimono and had a white hood thing. Her black hair covered her right eye and she was wearing a red necklace. The most noticeable thing about her, though, was...well, I'm pretty sure you can figure it out by the upcoming dialogue.

"Well, who'd have thought there'd be wolves in here of all places? The world is in turmoil. Have you come to listen to one of my sermons, wolves?"

"Erm...actually, we were just passing through."

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rao. I'm the regent of Sei-an City. Appointed by Queen Himiko herself." She did a backflip off where she was sitting and landed in front of us. "So how can I help you, then?"

"Holy cow, this sister's stacked!" Issun exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" She was clearly offended, but seemed to get over it a second later. "Oh! You've got a cute little fairy with you!"

"The name's Issun! And by the way...it only looks like I'm staring at your melons!" I resisted the urge to bang my head on the nearest object.

"...melons?" Rao questioned with confusion in her voice. She seriously couldn't figure it out...?

"Aw, nevermind...anyway, so you runnin' things around here? Well, there's a funky mist covering the city...and there's talk of a water dragon or something off shore. So what's up with the queen holing herself up in her palace? The people of her city are dropping like flies, ya know. How can she be so lazy at a time like this?"

"Lazy? More like heartless." I put in.

"So you've sensed the evil forces over Ryoshima too, then?" Rao asked. "I heard that dreaded Orochi was resurrected in Shinshu Field, though a brave swordsman vanquished him again." _Brave, my tail._ "The ripples of these waves of chaos are reaching Ryoshima, too. The water dragon terrorizes the sea and an ill mist covers Sei-an. And in these last few days, the situation ahs intensified. I don't know what's happening to your peaceful Nippon!"

"She said something about waves of chaos growing stronger recently...hm...a creepy shadow did scurry off when we defeated Orochi..." Issun mused as if Rao wasn't standing right in front of us, probably listening. "Wonder if what it was took root here on Ryoshima Coast?"

"What are you muttering about, Issun?" Rao tilted her head curiously.

"Well, this will no doubt come as quite a shock, but...the great slayers of the dreadful Orochi are right before your eyes. Behold, the great god Amaterasu!...and Silver.

"Have I ever mentioned that I hate you?"

"About every hour."

"Oh yeah...well, I hate you."

"What? These wolves?" Rao looked at us in shock, then her tone turned suspicious. "But I heard it was a swordsman called Susano."

"Yeah right." I muttered under my breath.

"Oh, uh, well...he may have dealt the final blow..."

"Surprisingly enough without a powerslash to help."

"But Ammy and Silver here did most of the work, I tell you! And if you don't believe me...they're gonna show ya some divine powers, right here, right now!"

"What are we, your pets?" I growled and sat down. Ammy just glanced at me. To any ordinary human, we probably looked like a couple of normal dogs. Rao gave Issun an unamused look.

"When will I see your friends' divine powers then, Issun?"

"You want it, you got it, sister!" Issun said almost frantically. I tried not to laugh. Our poncle lowered his voice and used a commanding and menacing tone. Although really, ant-sized humans aren't menacing in the least. "C'mon, you two! Show her one of your Celestial Brush techniques!"

"Because you asked so nicely." I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Galestorm?"

"Why not?" Ammy agreed. With a swish of our tales we created enough wind for about five of those hurricane stimulator things you see at the mall. All of the candles went out, the treasure chests toppled over, the lights on the ceiling were flying around, and a few scrolls fell to the ground. Rao even had trouble staying on her feet and had to crouch down not to fall.

"What was that?" Rao asked in shock, slowly standing back up.

"You like it? That was one of Amaterasu and Silver's divine powers. A mere taste of what the Celestial Brush can do!" Issun announced proudly.

"Celestial Brush..." What a mysterious and fearsome power you two wield."

"Ya got that right, sister! There ain't nothin' these two can't do!"

"Isn't that a double negative?" I pointed out.

"Shut up, Silver. No one asked you."

"I feel so loved."

"Maybe these wolves..." Rao tailed uncertainly.

"Maybe these wolves, what?" We've got names, we're not pets, and we're standing right in front of you!"

"Maybe you two could help me with my quest?" She finally addressed us. And it seemed like she was asking, not ordering. See? Was that so hard?

"Your quest?" Issun questioned. "What more could you want? You're already stacked to the ceiling!" Ammy and I sighed and face/floored. "...what?"

"Nevermind. Forget I said anything." Rao told us with a slightly depressed look. "Now that I've lost my prayer slips, the situation is completely hopeless."

"C'mon! Tell us what you want!" Issun persisted.

"It doesn't matter. Just forget about it. I have many favors I want to ask now that I've seen your powers, but without my prayer slips, there is nothing anyone can do."

"All right, fine then. Let's just go. C'mon, you two."

"And we are once again treated like pets." I sighed as we left Rao to her hopelessness. (After getting an exorcism slip m and a scroll.) Ammy asked him to read said scroll as soon as we were outside.

"We haven't done this since back in Hana Valley, but sure." Issun pulled out the scroll and started reading. "It is said that a holy realm called the Celestial Plain is situated in the heavens above Nippon, where the mere mortals dwell. This legend is ancient, and no one today knows of or speaks of it. However, I have been entrusted with the knowledge of this sacred place. One day, I was visited by a strange man who wove for me a strange tale. He said unto me 'The Celestial Plain has met its end.' He related the horrors of this destruction to me at great length. His talk was unbelievable, but his eyes showed no reason to doubt. I only with I had the fortitude to recount his harrowing tale here. I'm afraid my brush cannot bear the heavy burden of that sad fate. It seems that the Celestial Plain was destroyed long, long ago...the gods' spirits, rendered homeless, still inhabit the earth. I try not to think such things when I gaze up at the sky." We were all quiet for a moment.

"So it's gone?" Ammy asked softly.

"Maybe it's not gone like gone gone. It could just be gone like-" A glare from me cut Issun off.

"What he's trying to say it, maybe it's just not in good shape. I'm sure it's nothing that a divine intervention can't fix." Ammy gave me a look that clearly showed her thanks. "We need to get going. We've still got some prayer slips to find." She nodded, and we ran across the bridge in front of us. We turned right to go across another one, not even caring to listen to the guards protecting Himiko's palace, and went into the emperor's palace, where the mist was coming from. When we were at the entrance but not technically in the building, the mist was already so overwhelming it made me wanna gag. It wasn't making me feel sick, but it smelled _horrible! _Mr. Orange's breath after drinking sake didn't have crap on this! We went forwards a bit until we were about halfway to the guards, who started talking like we weren't even there.

"Psst!" The guard on the left whispered. Just to be on the safe side, Ammy and I ducked behind the nearest thing we could find-a fence. Yeah, not that great of a hiding spot, but it worked. "Psst! Can you hear me?"

"What? We're supposed to be on duty!" The guard on the right snapped, giving the other a clearly irritated look.

"Well, it's just...I wanted to ask you something. Um, what's your opinion of his highness?"

"What do you mean?" The guard seemed nervous and he lowered his voice. "Surely you're not doubting the worth of our honorable emperor! True, he's had to take to his bed because of this strange illness. But I'm full of hope he'll soon make a speedy recovery."

"And I am too, of course! But there's something about his strange illness that bothers me." My ears perked up in interest. I glanced over at Ammy, who looked equally curious. "That swirling mist is a little out of the ordinary, don't you think? The moment the emperor took ill, it started to come from his room. And then, before we knew it, it had taken over the whole city! People are really starting to suffer from it, too. Well? Don't you think it's all a bit of a coincidence?"

The other guard was quiet for a second. "It's definitely odd. I'll grant you that. But it's no use trying to ask his highness how he feels. He just sends everyone away, and he won't even see a doctor. So I don't see that there's anything we can do about it."

"But what about that girl locked up in the cell all alone? She shouldn't be locked up like that. She's done nothing wrong!"

"You mean that girl called Kaguya, right? Hm. Orders are orders, so we had no choice but to lock her up. But I can't quite see why his highness wanted us to do it. This city's in a real mess ever since he took ill like this. I wonder what's going on inside the palace."

"Didja hear that?" Issun predictably asked.

"I knew something wasn't right with this mist, but it's apparently coming from the emperor?" Ammy wondered.

"He could be working with Himiko, too." I guessed.

"That does seem like a possibility. But why would someone make themselves sick? It doesn't make sense."

"All bad guys are crazy if ya ask me." Issun stated.

"Okay, we'll figure that out later. But what about the girl they mentioned? Why lock her up if she hasn't done anything?"

"Maybe the sickness is making the emperor more whacked out than he already is?"

"Like you said, Celia, we can sort those things out later. Right now we need to get Rao's prayer slips back."

"What about those slips of paper over there?" Issun bounced off towards a pile of papers that were lying on the ground a little ways in front of us. "Looks like each one has a spell or something on it. But I have no idea how to use 'em. Don't think they'd do us much good." I sighed in annoyance. "...what?"

"Those are the prayer slips, moron."

"Oh...I knew that."

"Sure you did, bug boy." I grabbed the paper and, with a nod from Ammy, we were off and running back to Rao's place.

**Back at Rao's place...**

Said priestess instantly jumped in shock when we arrived. "What have you...? My prayer slips! You found them? In this huge city?"

"Yup."

"Thank you! They're indispensable in my fight against the evil beings."

"How does that explain her losing them in such a random place?"

"The world may never know."

"I was sure one of them had stolen them from me. Thank goodness! Yes, your ability to sniff things out really is a divine power."

Ammy and I shared an unbelieving glance. "If you say so..."

"Your names are Amaterasu and Silver, correct, wolves?" I proceeded to fall over and have a spaz attack from pure frustration. Everyone present just stared at me for a minute before just ignoring it. "Well, Amaterasu and Silver, would you put your powers to use for us?"

"Hm? You saying we're the answer to your prayers?" Issun questioned.

"I'm saying you are our only hope. As you have seen, Ryoshima Coast is in turmoil. All because of the evil rising from the darkness...because of the forces of darkness."

"Forces of darkness?"

"Yes. Next to them, the monsters out there in the wild are nothing! They're starting to spread over Ryoshima Coast. And with Queen Himiko confined to her palace, it all falls to me. Normally, I'd use my holy powers to dispel any threat to the city. But this foe is too strong for me. So I have no choice but to ask this favor. Lend me your powers!"

"So that means we'd end up helping Himiko after all?" Issun asked skeptically. "I dunno...sounds kinda fishy to me." Even lying on the ground having a seizure, I mentally agreed.

"There are some who think the queen is a coward to shut herself away. But she cares for her subjects. She's praying for our protection." Yeah, right. I'd believe it when I saw it. "But even she can't calm the water dragon and exorcise the city. Not without that sacred treasure to enhance her holy powers."

"Sacred treasure?" Ammy asked in a curious tone.

"That's what I want you to help me find! Please, Amaterasu and Silver!" Of course I stood up right before she said that and ended up just falling to the ground again. "Let me ask you once again. Will you listen to what I have to ask?"

"Aw, what the heck...let's hear what this stacked babe has to say."

"Stacked...?" Still couldn't believe she didn't know what that term meant. "Anyway...when you came here to the city, did you see it? Right off the coast near the Ryoshima border, there lies a sunken treasure ship, a victim of the water dragon's rampage That ship was a trading vessel, working between here and abroad. It was transporting a great treasure, ordered by Queen Himiko. But the water dragon attacked every ship in the water. It sunk the ship and its precious cargo right in front of the port! The Fox Rods that the queen had finally managed to locate, a matchless treasure with the power to defeat any foe, would have been Sei-an City's...no, Nippon's greatest asset. If we had the Fox Rods now, we could drive out the evil beings Amaterasu, Silver," Face/floor. "Will you both come to the treasure ship with me and help me search its cargo for the Fox Rods?"

"You want us to do what?" Issun exclaimed. "Okay, lemme get this straight. You. Want us. To search for treasure. On a sunken. Treasure. Ship?" He used pauses for emphasis. "Well, I'd do anything for a cute babe, but if my bosses here say no, there ain't much I can do. Well? We gonna help this busty babe out, or what?"

"Of course we're going to help." Ammy answered.

"Bummer! Well, the boss has spoken..." And then he realized what she had said. "Huh? What was that, Ammy?"

"Thank you, Amaterasu and Silver!" Another face/floor. "Okay, let's go to the sunken treasure ship right away, then! Although we must wait a while until the new moon rises in the night sky. In the shallows where the ship ran aground, called the Lunar Lagoon, the tide only recedes when the new moon is seen from the Mon Turret. When the tide's out, it's easy to get into the treasure ship. We'll meet at the ship, on the night of the next new moon."

"All right, let's go." Ammy and I started for the door, but Issun apparently had to have a stern talk with us.

"Boy, Ammy, you sure seemed really eager to help her!" He hissed under his breath. "Well, I couldn't say no to those two, either..." If I were human, I would've flicked him off Ammy's head. "But we can't let our guard down. I mean, who knows? That busty babe might be Himiko's puppet. And if they're up to no good, then we should get our hands on those Fox Rods before they do!"

"Well, I trust Rao. She may be friends with Himiko, but at least she's trying to do something about the mist and the water dragon." I commented as we walked outside.

"Why don't you two trust Himiko? Rao said she's praying for her people." Ammy joined the conversation.

"'Praying' probably means 'hiding from the mist and other crap going on while everyone else suffers.'"

"Well, I guess we all have our own opinions, but I don't know how you can trust Rao. She seems suspicious to me."

"I don't trust anyone."

"Thank you for the input, but she was talking to me, Issun."

"So? I can talk, can't I?"

"Unfortunately."

It was just one big argument from there. Long story short, we got to the Moon Turret and decided to just sleep the rest of the day instead of using crescent. If I had played through Okami just a little bit further, I wouldn't have been able to fall to sleep. Because the upcoming trial was hands down the scariest dungeon in the game. And we would go through heck getting to the end of it.


	20. Horror, horror, and more horror

Extremely short author's note! Go!  
>Celia: ...wtf?<br>You ruined it. -.- Anyways, happy late new year, everyone! And to keep short author's note short, I'm not going to list every single person who reviewed this time. You know who you are. Feel free to take as many cookies as you want. *sets out giant bowl of cookies and runs like heck*

Issun: Desi doesn't own Okami. If she did, Celia would be my girlfriend already!  
>Celia: *takes a step away from Issun*<p>

Chapter 17- Horror, horror, and more horror

"Holy smokes!" Issun exclaimed, waking both me and Ammy up.

"What is it now?" I grumbled, rubbing my eyes with the back of my paw. I yawned, stood up, shook my fur, and then jawdropped. "No way..." A giant circle around the sunken ship was just gone. It looked like someone had taken a giant cookie cutter to it or something.

"That's something you don't see every day! Wonder if it's safe to walk on that lagoon..."

"There's only one way to find out, right?" Ammy asked.

"Leap before you thiiiiiiiink!" I yelled, jumping off our vantage point and into the sea. I swam over to the Lunar Lagoon, shaking the small drops of water out of my fur when I got to dry, yes, I said dry, sand. Ammy landed next to me, which was the cue to start searching for treasures in the area. Then we climbed aboard the ship of terrors. The first thing we ran into was a door surrounded by purple lookin' mist...stuff. I have a great vocabulary, huh?

"That door looks cursed." Issun stated. "They probably sealed it up like that to keep looters out. But I've never seen such a sinister looking curse before. I sure hope this whole ship isn't one big curse."

"Thank you for those happy words of encouragement!"

"Well, at any rate, this puppy ain't gonna be easy to dispel."

"Amaterasu! Silver!" I face/floored while Ammy glanced towards the sound of the voice.

"B-busty babe..." Issun gasped. Uh, memory loss? She said she'd meet us on the ship.

"You're here already, all of you!" I swear, Ammy was staring at Rao's chest. It kinda creeped me out. "I'm sorry I'm late. My political duties delayed me."

"This is the treasure ship you were talking about, babe?"

"Yes...this is where the Fox Rods Queen Himiko was looking for are. It was sunk by the Water Dragon and now it's filled with monsters. But my powers can only deal with a few dozen monsters. There's nothing to worry about. Let's go in!" Rao exclaimed and made possibly the weirdest pose I'd ever seen in my life. It put Waka's poses to shame. I ended up staring at her too, but only for the total weirdness of the situation.

"That's all fine and dandy, babe. But what about this cursed door here? Was it sealed up like that to keep looters out? Or maybe it's the curse of those who died when the Water Dragon sunk their ship. That thing's just seething with an intensely evil power."

"So, that's a cursed door to stop anyone from getting through...I see. That's a neat trick." I seriously wondered how she could just talk about it casually.

"You got that right. We better find another way it." Rao spun around and, I swear I'm not lying, pulled the prayer slips from her chest. What. The. HECK? That's all I can say.

"It's time we joined forces, Amaterasu and Silver." Face/floor. "There'll be more barriers sealed by magic as we get further inside. When we come to them, I'll use a prayer slip to break the seal. So if you don't mind..." She jumped into the air, did a flip, and landed on my back.

"Trust me, we don't mind at all." Issun said slyly and jumped onto my head.

"I feel so loved." Ammy rolled her eyes.

"Issun, get off my head." I growled.

"Aww, but the view is a lot better here." I ate him, making Rao stare at me for a minute. Ammy sighed and hit her head on the nearest box. After everything was back to normal, (As normal as anything can be in our little ragtag group of...I don't even know how to describe us, actually...) Rao spoke up.

"So, Amaterasu, Silver..." Face/floor followed by another minute of silence. "Handling the prayer slips is my affair. But I would like your assistance in targeting. Don't worry. What I ask is not difficult. You know how to manipulate the brush of the gods, I believe?" I made a small galestorm to answer, since she couldn't understand us. "All right, use that power to guide the prayer slip from my hand to its target. So, let's practice on the curse blocking the door, shall we?"

"I'll do this. You'll probably have trouble aiming, anyways." Ammy told me. I nodded and watched as she swished her tail from the papers in Rao's hand to the doorway. The purple-lookin' mist stuff disappeared and the door split open, revealing a pathway.

"Fantastic! As long as I have my power slips, there's nothing to be afraid of. Not even monsters! Enough practice now. Great treasure waits! Let's go find the Fox Rods!" As soon as we took a few steps, two ghost imps flew towards us from the passageway. I screamed and closed my eyes. A few seconds later, Ammy poked my side with her paw. I looked to see that the ghosts were gone.

"Oh...sorry..." I said, trying to give her an innocent look. She just gave me an amused smile and continued. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to hate this ship?"

"Because you were afraid of two ghost imps?"

"Shut up, Issun." As soon as I was halfway up the steps, another imp appeared right in front of us and grabbed onto me. This time Issun and Rao were freaking out as well. Ammy luckily heard the commotion and killed the ghost with a prayer slip.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Did not see that coming." I whimpered. There was probably a terrified look on my face and my ears were pressed flat against my head. "Do we have to do this?" Ammy nodded. "...I hate my life." Once we got to the top of the staircase the path ended and we had to jump. The area before us was filled with treasure chests and a path went to the left. It wasn't as bad as I expected.

"Whoa...just look at all those treasure chests!" Issun exclaimed excitedly. "Heh heh heh...we're gonna be millionaires even before we find those Fox Rods!"

"I wanna be a millionaire so-" A really creepy laugh stopped me in mid-song. "What the heck was that?"

"Probably just another ghost. Ammy'll get rid of it as soon as it shows its ugly face. Right, Ammy?"

"I will." She confirmed.

"All right. Leap before you think." I closed my eyes and jumped. Amazingly enough, nothing happened. (Well, the laughter was slightly louder, but I just tried to remember that Ammy and Rao would take care of any ghosts we ran into.)

"See, Silver? Was that so bad?" Issun questioned.

"This laughter is driving me crazy, but not really." I admitted. We did the usual drill-collect all the treasures, get the heck outta there. But unfortunately, fate just absolutely hated me for some reason. When I opened a chest, a green hand that looked like it was made out of pond scum or seaweed or something came out of the chest and grabbed my face. Did I mention there was an eyeball right in the middle of the hand? It wasn't very pretty close up. Rao was close enough that she could just swat at the thing and kill it with her prayer slips. I muttered a thanks after the shock had gone away, Issun translated, and we were once again moving.

Of course, after another giant distraction.

"Is that who I think it is...?"

"Oh crap, she spotted us!"

"I hate my life! I hate my life! _I hate my life!_"

"Make it go away!"

"What is that thing?"

"Freaking Spider Queen!"

"She said the Spider Queen."

"I think she's gone now..."

"Gah!"

"Okay, _now-_"

"Don't jinx it again!"

"There she is!"

"...that's a doll."

"...I knew that."

"I think I know who the reluctant one of the group is."

"Issun, tell her to shut up."

"Silver said 'shut up.'"

After that little boatload of fun, we went down the path to the left, destroying painfully obvious spear traps as we walked. It made me wonder how the people on the ship didn't skewer themselves before the water dragon attack. The next room we came to had a huge pile of bones smack in the middle of it.

"Anyone else get a bad feeling about this?" I asked. Two huge hermit crabs proceeded to fall from the ceiling and a barrier came up. "Called it."

Ammy used the magic power of cheating to our advantage! AKA she used a vengeance slip to help us out. By mutual agreement I went for the blue one and Ammy went for the red. We pretty much spammed the attacks since we wouldn't get hurt for a little while. (Ammy got done a few seconds before I did though because she powerslashed the crab after its shell was broken.) Victory for us. I was starting to gain hope again.

"I am queen of this ship." I announced, standing on top of the pile of bones. Ammy rolled her eyes, I heard Issun face/palm, and Rao didn't do anything because Issun didn't translate. I jumped off and ran through the next hallway, only to skid to a halt. In my book, golden gate + cursed doorway = nothing good on the other side.

"Quit bein' paranoid and open the door." Issun ordered.

"Hey, we've gotta wait for Ammy, anyways. This is her job."

"All right, I'm here." Ammy stated. As soon as the door was open, we walked into a room where the moonlight shone through a hole in the ceiling.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Rao asked. "Even a ship doomed by the Water Dragon can enjoy the starlight. But it only looks like this inside the ship when there's a new moon. As soon as the sun comes up, cold seawater floods the ship again. Yes, this ship has suffered a cruel fate."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked Ammy.

"Sunrise." She confirmed and used said brush technique. The room suddenly turned brighter and we were able to hear water flowing into the ship.

"B-but...that's impossible! It can't be daybreak yet! Surely this can't be...you didn't do this, did you, Amaterasu?"

"We do stuff like this all the time." I told her.

"Your powers can control the very movement of the heavens!"

"We can also do this." I ran over to a glowing green spot, dug up a clover, and bloomed it.

"Okay, now you're just being a show-off." Issun complained.

"Sorry." I grumbled and we all backtracked, going through the golden gate and into the bee room. But, as luck would have it, the crabs were back. And they apparently had the ability to turn into a giant shark.

And then my brain came up with an idea that was crazy enough that it just could work.

"Powerslash like mad!" I yelled. Ammy gave me a strange look, but nodded and helped me draw a crapton of lines. "You too, bug boy!" Issun didn't seem that eager to help, but he did anyways. Probably because he knew I would've eaten him if he didn't obey. With three people attacking at once, the shark was quickly killed.

"I can't believe that worked." Issun stated in slight shock.

"You're welcome for coming up with an easy plan." I replied simply and swam back to the next passageway. For some impossible to explain reason the spear traps were back, although a few power slashes and they were all gone. The next room had pieces of wood floating around, which Ammy and I used to jump across, and the red barrel that used to be useless was now used as a platform to get to the top. (Did I say the word use enough in that sentence?) We got a small holy bone, broke a couple pots, walked through a golden gate, (Which I decided didn't really signify any upcoming danger; they were just there to make people paranoid.) and examined the next room. There was a cannon, three targets stacked on top of each other, and a submerged lockjaw. Seriously wondered how that thing didn't drown. Of course, being the destructive people/gods/wolves/poncles we are, the first thing that caught our attention was the cannon. We drew a cherry bomb on top of it because...well, there was a glowing cherry bomb symbol. It couldn't have been more obvious if there was a flashing neon sign above it with huge arrows pointing down to multicolored letters that said 'PLACE CHERRY BOMB HERE!' Which I was surprised there wasn't.

After a fun little balance game, we hit all the three targets, getting us a pearl, a sun fragment, and a key to a lockjaw. Unfortunately for us, the key was also underwater, so we knew we had to come back to it later.

The next thing I did was jump headfirst into a ghost imp! (Not intentionally, I swear.) I actually got hurt by it before Ammy could get rid of it. And then there were three more ghosts in the next passageway! Fun, right? We all went through said passageway (After we cleared out the ghosts, of course.) and stopped to look out at the next room from a distance. AKA as far back as we could get from it. Because animals have a sixth sense. And that sense was screaming at me and Ammy to _get the heck away!_

"What's up with you two? Move your lazy butts!" Issun commanded. I growled softly, gave one concerned glance down at the water, and jumped, running across the small path of wood. Everything seemed okay...that is, until the water in front of us started to move. I made a run for it to the nearest place I could take cover and Ammy backtracked, getting out of range of whatever was about to come our way. I turned to see a _huge_ pond scum hand come by and slap the water of the passageway.

"Are you okay, Ammy?" I asked, staying where I was in case of another attack.

"I'm fine." She answered and I let out a sigh of relief. "I'll come over to where you are, okay?" In a couple of seconds she was standing next to me.

"Okay, so what's the plan now?" Issun questioned.

"Besides not dying? Well, leap before you think!" I caught Issun off-guard that time as I leaped into the water and made a quick swim towards the staircase in front of me. I dashed to the top, nearly being pushed over by the shaking brought to you by pond scum hand: for all your terror needs! Insert catchy jingle here.

"I'm right behind you!" I gave a small jump as Ammy walked up next to me.

"You startled me. Jeez."

"Sorry." She apologized. "C'mon." She dashed across the next stretch of the bridge and I followed. It didn't take me long to realize there was a huge shadow looming ominously over me. It was then that I started to freak out.

"Run, Silver!" Issun urged.

"I _am_ running!"

"Well, run faster!" I forced myself to pull ahead of the shadow, nearly getting crushed by the pond scum hand. I nearly fell of a barrel (Which Ammy had powerslashed to get down.) in front of me from my speed. My momentum actually made the barrel roll into the water pretty quickly, but once I was there I froze. I was on a barrel. In the water. Which was inhabited by that...thing. Ammy jumped down to join me.

"It's okay. It won't attack us as long as we're on this." She assured me. I nodded and together we rolled the barrel to two chains, which balanced the scale. We jumped onto the ledge above us to take a break. I mean, come on. We were nearly killed multiple times by the pond scum hand of death and destruction and a whole bunch of other unhappy things. Give us a break.

After the rest, we ended up having to use the hand that was trying to squish us as a platform to get back up onto the pathway. Many, many fails later, we both made it and the hand commenced to try to kill us by coming at us with two fingers. Luckily, the attacks were easy to dodge with two jumps and a duck. Then we just had one final stretch to go before we were safe. You might be thinking, _oh, final chance for the hand to kill us. It's gonna do something horrible,_ right?

Haha. Yeaaah, no. It just tried to crush us one more time, not even caring to track us. It was a pathetic final attempt and it will most likely never be remembered by anyone in ten years...nah, I'm joking. But it _was_ a fail.

Anyways, the pathway was pretty much a big loop, because we ended up back in the room with the missing ceiling.

"I understand now." Rao said. "Once the water drains, the scale on this side will go up. You can use it to get back onto that ledge, backtrack to the room with the cannon, and open that lock." Ammy and I both nodded. "...so why don't you turn day into night now?"

"We need to sleep." I told her with a yawn.

"Even though time feels shorter to us, we still need to eat and sleep accordingly, or else we'll give out from exhaustion." Ammy explained.

"Oh, I see. So we'll rest here until nightfall?"

"You got it, sister!" Issun confirmed. We all settled down on the small patch of grass, since it was the best place we could find, and quickly fell to sleep.

"Tsunami!" I suddenly yelped when I heard the water in the ship recede. I noticed Issun trying, with much difficulty, not to laugh. "Shut it! I was woken up by the sound of water. It was just a natural reaction to that!"

"Sure, Silver. Suuure."

"Come on, you two. The faster we move, the sooner we get out of here." Ammy said.

"How long have you been awake?" I questioned.

"A while. I went to the next room to find out if the seaweed hand would attack again. You might want to see this." She jumped onto the barrel and then onto the ledge above. I woke Rao up, she got on my back, and I followed Ammy. What we found in the next room was...disturbing, to say the least.

"What is that?" I gagged.

"The seaweed hand." Ammy jumped down to the floor below and all I could do was copy.

"The previously scary-as-heck creature was reduced to a blob of sick green. A moving, breathing, _living_, ton of pond scum. As gross as it was, I had never loved an enemy more for just being totally harmless.

"Time to squish some seaweed." Ammy jumped onto a green barrel with spikes and rolled it toward the creature.

"Wait for me!" I yelled and grabbed the other barrel.

"Will you actually do something, please?" Issun requested impatiently after a minute or so of me just trying to keep my balance on the thing. How I'd managed to do it in the water, I'll never know.

"Okay, okay. Jeez." I huffed. We kept rolling over the thing until it disappeared, giving us fifty praise.

"Want to upgrade our solar energy?" Ammy asked.

I gave a shrug. "Sure, why not?" After we did that, we went back to the room with the canon. "Can I do this?" I asked Ammy when we reached the key. She nodded, and I grabbed the object in front of me, ran at the lockjaw, and destroyed it in a burst of light and an eye stabbing. "That's for being so dang hard to kill!" I growled.

"Umm..." Rao stared at me nervously.

"What? I hated the pond scum hand, okay?" I defended with Issun translating.

"Well, we should get going. I have a feeling the fox rods are close."

"They'd better be." I muttered. We went through the hallway and opened up one more cursed door...

...just to have Crimson Helm appear out of nowhere and scare us all half to death. I tried to just ignore it and move forward, but the ghost was slowing me down. So we had to wait until it turned into a skeleton, tried to bite us, (Even though its attempts did absolutely nothing.) and finally decided to go away.

"I think I like the Spider Queen better. At least we had somewhat of a warn-crap!" We all ducked as Crimson Helm made one last charge at us. "Case and point."

Issun, of course, totally ignored all the scary experiences we had gone through within the past 24 hours and marveled at the sight in front of us. "Look at all this treasure!" He exclaimed. "We're gonna be rich!"

"Don't open the gold chests." Ammy advised.

"Why not?"

"Issun, don't you remember the last gold treasure chest that I opened?" I asked.

"Oh yeah..."

"Exactly."

We ended up collecting a stray bead, a lackerware set, and a hammer, but there were no fox rods to be found.

"What is this?" Rao asked, holding the mallet in her hands.

"Finally, something interesting!" Issun said happily. "Wait...this is a Lucky Mallet. Is this what you were lookin' for, babe?"

"It can shrink people down until they be come so small that thye can pass through the eye of a needle." Ammy and I exchanged a glance, thinking the exact same thing. We were definitely on the right track. "Certainly, a tool with such powers is a great treasure...but it doesn't provide an answer to Queen Himiko's prayers for peace."

"Hm...someone else mentioned the eye of a needle..." Issun trailed, then I heard him snap his fingers. "Oh, yeah. It was that half-baked prophet Waka back in Sei-an City, remember?"

"Even the most solid defense has a tiny gap like the eye of a needle." Ammy quoted with a nod.

"Wonder what kinda place he was talking about."

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe a place with a solid defense?" I guessed in a sarcastic tone.

"Amaterasu, Silver," Cue head/treasure chest and ten seconds of awkward silence. "It seems what I was looking for isn't on this ship." I tried not to have a seizure right then and there. "Unfortunately, we must leave without it."

"Aw, cheer up, babe. The ocean's a big place. You'll find what you want somewhere!"

"Yeah, but it might take forever to do it." I pointed out.

"That may be so, but going into the ocean now is suicide. Well, as long as the Water Dragon is still about, that is..."

"Sheesh. Nobody can shut up about that thing." Issun complained. "You'd think the Water Dragon ruled Ryoshima Coast or something! Well, don't forget we have boss Ammy here with us."

"What about me?"

"Ammy's better than you by a long shot."

"I hate you so much right now."

"Good for you. Now let's go think things over back in the city. I'm sick of this ship!" And with that, we made our way out of hel- I mean, the sunken ship.

...if there's a difference, I'd very much like to be informed of it.


	21. The Grossest Chapter In This Story

Oookay, second time writing this author's note. Hope I don't fall asleep at the computer while re-typing all of this.

Procrastination is not fun. So thank Ammy that the word count for this is 8,603...right? *shot* Okay, really, I'll admit, that doesn't make up for it. At all. But do you know why this chapter is being posted now instead of two weeks from now or some other insane date like that? Because I decided to read my reviews recently. And the last three or four reviews inspired me to get my lazy butt into gear and type up the rest of this chapter before I got any sleep tonight...actually, looking down at the time, I should probably say today. So...after I finish re-writing this author's note, I'm going to pray that the winter storm that's supposed to come here will be enough to cause a snow day or late start, or else I'm going to be a zombie at school today. XD

On the topic of reviews, I believe this happened when I attempted to have a short author's note for once, but the review count for this passed 100. I'm not sure how I managed to miss something that big, but I did. So I'm going to take the time to say this now: Thank you, everyone. Seriously. You don't know how much this means to me. It makes me feel like one of those fameous fanfiction authors that everyone knows about or something. And I seriously don't feel like I deserve that, with how horribly irratic my update schedule is. Looking back on when this fanfiction was first starting out, I cannot believe that I actually had review troubles. I'm so thankful that now I have so many people reading and reviewing this. Yes, this includes you, annonymous reviewers. Because I believe three out of the four people whose reviews got me to type all this up last night/this morning don't even have accounts. I kind of wish you did just so I could spam you with cookies via PM, but everyone's totally happy with getting their cookies in this author's note, right? ...good, because I kinda bought an entire island and filled it with cookies just for all you reviewers. There's the maps. *points to a table cluttered with maps* Now go have a good time making yourselves morbidly obese with the unhealthy junk food! 8D

And speaking of things hitting the 100 mark, the last chapter officially put this story's wordcount at over 100,000. There are only four fanfictions in the Okami section that have done this so far. (Mark my words, TheManWithBacon, once we're both done with our stories, OACA will have a higher wordcount than SITM. XD) This makes me happy. And slightly surprised that you people actually have time to sit down and read these long chapters. Seriously, do you all have nothing better to do with your lives? *shot* Nah, I'm kidding. I spend a lot of time with my face practically stuck in front of my computer reading fanfiction, too. XD

Without anything else to further expand upon in this author's note, you may now continue wasting your lives reading this fanfiction! *shot again*

Disclaimer: The scenes in this next chapter are much, much too cliche to actually be in Okami. Therefore, the author has oficially been banned from owning anything Okami related. Not including OCs.  
>Celia: ...I hate my life. -.-<p>

Chapter 18-The Grossest Chapter In This Story

Like clockwork, as soon as we left the ship the sun came up and allowed us to swim back to shore. Because, well, Ammy and I weren't that great at underwater swimming at the results would probably be worse with Rao on my back.

I suddenly felt said priestess suddenly tense up. "C-Cant you swim any faster, Silver?" She asked in an urgent tone. She gave a worried glance behind us and I started to wonder what the heck was wrong.

"Huh? I mean, what'd ya expect, babe? Ammy and Silver are wolves, not speed boats!" Rao still wouldn't stop looking around. I started to share her concern- even though I had no clue what was going on- and tried to doggie paddle a little faster.

"Oh, I get it, babe." Issun said, most likely with a smirk on his face. Rao stared at him. "You wanna go to the bathroom, right?" This time I think I heard a splash before Rao looked behind us. "Heh heh heh. We don't mind..."

"Um, actually, the wolf that she's currently sitting on minds." I put in. Issun didn't translate this time.

"Besides, there's nothing but wide-open sea all around. Nobody's looking! Go ahead! That's what everyone does!"

"Again, I'd rather not be peed on."

"You don't understand!" Rao said desperately. "This swelling of the waves is a sign that it's coming..." This time I was pretty sure I saw something off to our right. "We'll be helpless if we're attacked here!"

"Here we go again..." Issun grumbled. I heard a loud sound come from behind again and seriously started to wonder if Issun was going blind, deaf, or both. "Even if it is that Water Dragon or whatever, we'll take care of the beast in a jiffy! It'll regret the day it messed with us!"

Of course, right when he said that, a giant thing, presumably the water dragon, came out of the water right next to us. It roared menacingly and we all just looked up and stared.

"Wh-wh-what the?" Issun was in shock. The water dragon snapped at Rao and me. I ducked and the priestess jumped off my back, the water dragon following. "Where'd that thing come from?" Rao started jumping across the water in giant bounds, barely escaping as the Water Dragon ended up face/cliffing. "Is _that_ the Water Dragon?" Issun asked in disbelief as it shook its head and fixed its attention on us. It roared again and went underwater. "Look out!"

"Swim for shore!" Ammy commanded. I made a path of lily pads and started running across them as fast as I could.

"Leap frog, leap frog, leap frog." I murmured as we tried making our getaway. I don't know how I thought it would help; I guess it was just out of hysteria.

"Phew..." Issun sighed in relief as we made the final jump to the shore.

"Thank Nuregami!" Ammy and I said at the same time.

"What the heck was that monster?" Issun suddenly freaked.

"The Water Dragon, maybe?" I answered, amazed at Issun's stupidity. Then I had to remind myself that was normal.

"Nobody told me something like that was on the loose around here!"

"Um, weren't we warned by about fifty people, not including Rao?"

"Come to think of it, what's up with that Busty Babe? She just took off without us!"

"She was about to be eaten by the dragon, Issun. Give her a break."

"Actually, I agree with him." Ammy put in, and of course Issun just jumped over to her head because of it. "She was in danger, but that's no excuse to leave us to be eaten."

"Boy, I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind next time we meet!" Before Issun was done ranting, the lucky mallet appeared in front of our little group. "How'd it jump out all by itself? Well, I hate to see treasure run off like that! After it, you two!"

"Stay." Issun commanded when we ran into Rao. Strangely enough, the Lucky Mallet actually obeyed and just bounced in place while we talked.

"Oh, thank goodness you're safe, Amaterasu and Silver!" Rao exclaimed when she saw us. Issun got on her case before I could say _I told you so._

"Hey, babe, what're you doing here? And how come you didn't tell us about that monster?"

"I-I'm sure I mentioned something about the water dragon...didn't I?" She stuttered.

"Yes, you did." I sent a glare at Issun.

"Bah, whatever..." He grumbled, not wanting to argue against both me and Rao. "Anyway, you'd better not be trying to trick us!"

"What are you talking about? I was nearly eaten alive too, you know!" Rao held up her hands in defense.

"That's what I said!"

"But however did you get away? You're both rather slow swimmers..."

"What did you just say? Take that back! Ammy and Silver get kinda sensitive about their flaws!"

"Sorry." Rao apologized. "But about the Fox Rods...if they're not on that ship, then where on earth are they? If they're lost in the sea, the vast realm of the Water Dragon, there's no way we'll ever find them!"

"Oh, cheer up!" Issun tried to be optimistic. "I'd hate to see and your two friends cry." ...of course. But the conversation was cut short by the Lucky Mallet suddenly deciding to bounce out of the door, forcing me and Ammy to follow.

"Don't you think she acts suspicious?" Ammy asked as we followed the mallet.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Didn't you notice that Rao sounded disappointed when she asked how we got away?"

"You're imagining things."

"I'm not so sure, Celia." Ammy stopped and gave me a serious look. "I don't know if we can trust her. Don't be biased just because she's a priestess."

"I am not biased!" I protested. Ammy just held my gaze for a couple more seconds, sighed, and continued running after the Lucky Mallet. I shook my head and followed. I wasn't being careless; Ammy and Issun were the ones being too careful. After all, you can't gain someone's trust until you trust them first. And we needed all the help we could get to stop whatever the heck was attacking Ryoshima and Sei-an.

The Lucky Mallet ended up leading us to the Emperor's palace, right where we previously found the prayer slips. I tried not to breathe too much since we were in the area with the most mist. Ammy and I hadn't gotten sick yet, but there was no telling if wolves were really immune to the effects or if we just hadn't been breathing it long enough.

I suddenly felt concerned for Issun. I mean, according to him, he was a poncle. Considering that was a really, really tiny human, there was a pretty good possibility that he'd get sick. Possibly even sooner than all the other citizens of the city had.

Speaking of Issun, he started a weird rant once we made it to the small area where we had found the prayer slips before.

"Heh heh! We got you cornered, you...you...mallet! No treasure's ever escaped from the great Issun! I'm gonna sell you to some greedy merchant, and- hm? Hey, wait..." Yep, he finally used his brain. "Check it our, you two. Isn't this the palace where that swirling mist is coming from?"

"Great observation!" I said sarcastically.

"You made us chase you here for a reason, mallet? Wait, I think I get it..."

"He gets it? It's a monumental occasion! We must celebrate!"

"...shut up, Silver. But the Lucky Mallet can shrink people, right? You wanna shrink Ammy and Silver here. Then you want us to go into that creepy looking hole, don't ya! I dunno...why would hammerhead here want us to go in there?"

"You expect us to know?"

"...still, it might be worth checking out. I mean, this palace has gotta be the source of that mist. If Queen Himiko's not gonna do anything about this mess, then it's up to us to find out the truth! Anyway, we haven't found a single brush technique in this darn city! How could we possibly pass up this palace? Okay, Mallet! We'll enter the hole. Now come on and work your magic on Furball here!" Issun _did_ realize what he said sounded really suggestive, right...? "Ready to get hammered, Ammy?" _Taking that as a 'no.'_

"Bring it!" Ammy said with a determined smile. I stared at her like she was insane. The Lucky Mallet shook above her head and soon she was just a glowing dot. Then the dot flew into the crack in the wall and disappeared.

"All right, Fluffy! Your turn!" Issun announced happily.

"No way!" I yelped.

"Huh? Don't tell me you're scared." Issun moaned in annoyance and frustration. "Aw, c'mon! You're a wolf! How bad could it hurt?"

"It's a hammer, Issun! It'll hurt a lot!"

"Just quit stallin', Silver! We gotta hammer you down to size so you can fit in the hole. Ready for a good beating, Fluffy?"

"I think I'll pass."

"Oh, don't be such a baby!" I just sat there, glaring at the Lucky Mallet, mentally warning it to stay away. "Okay, fine. Have it your way. You can stay behind."

"Thank you." I lay down to take a nap while I waited for Ammy to get back.

"Mallet, let her have it!"

"Issun!" I yelled and my eyes snapped open in time to see the mallet do to me what it had done to Ammy. I closed my eyes tightly in fear as I felt myself shrink and fly through the hole. It wasn't exactly the softest landing with me hitting at least five or six different objects before falling on my belly.

"I see you came to join the party." Ammy commented right next to me. I looked around to take in the surroundings. Giant grass, giant grass, and hey, _more_ giant grass. This would be fun! Please note the sarcasm.

"I'm gonna freaking kill him." I muttered under my breath.

"Ahahahahahaha! You should see the look on your faces!" A voice said, absolutely cracking up. Ammy and I turned to see a human standing a few feet away from us. I had a derp moment, probably just caused by the suddenness of the situation, and couldn't figure out who it was. "A few shakes of the Lucky Mallet reduces things to my size! It's not for clobbering people or anything, silly! Boy, I'll never get tired of messing with your head!"

Ammy and I both got into battle stances. Whoever this person was, I already didn't like him. I growled and prepared to attack if he did anything, as did Ammy.

"Huh? What's gotten into you two?" He asked in a frustrated and angered tone. "You forgot what I look like already?" Ammy gave him a curious look at stopped growling, so I (somewhat hesitantly) did the same. "Now listen here, Furball and Fluffy! You'd better remember me this time or else! I'm Issun the wandering artist! You got it?" A leaf floated towards him and he cut it with Denkomaru, trying to look epic. I was still slightly in shock, but I tried to remember that I _had_ seen him like this at the Kamiki Festival. "Besides, I'm so dashingly handsome. Who else could it be?"

_Dashingly handsome?_ I thought, trying to stifle a laugh. I decided to assess how he looked, if only to object to the statement, seeing as I actually hadn't done so in Kamiki. He looked about 14 or 15 years old. He had purple clothes, a green cape, and a green beetle for a hat. (No wonder he was always called a bug so often.) He had his sword at his side, but I noticed that it doubled as his paintbrush and vaguely wondered how difficult it would be to paint with a sword. His black hair was pulled back in a ponytail. (I had been in Nippon long enough to get used to stuff like that, but I couldn't help but find it just a little strange.) His eyes were forest green and had a mischievous glint in them that I guessed was there most, if not all, of the time. I remembered seeing it last time, namely when Issun had pointed out how close our faces were. Overall he looked...

...kinda cute.

I mentally slapped myself and was suddenly very thankful to be in wolf form at the moment. Had I not, then there would've been a blush on my face so huge it could've gone into a world record book.

"Bet you see my in a new light now!" Issun said with a smirk. Again, glad I was a wolf. I glanced over at Ammy, who was apparently still taking in the new scenery. "Hey! I'm talking to you, Furball!" She just gave him a small glance, a bored expression on her face. "Aw, forget it." He sighed in exasperation and defeat. "Let's check out the palace. We gotta find out what's behind that swirling mist. You two may be no bigger than dust bunnies now, but I bet ya still both got a lotta fight left in you!" He jumped onto Ammy's back and spoke again. Because no matter what, we all know Issun won't shut up. "Well, time's a wastin'! But there's something you need to know first. I mean, this _is_ like a brand-new world to you two. See that chest wrapped up in chains over there?" He pointed to, well, a treasure chest wrapped up in chains. Kinda overkill, if you ask me. I mean, a tiny chest placed in a whole bunch of grass- and grass from the emperor's garden to boot. How many people are going to notice that?

"If you can guide me over to it with your Celestial Brush, I'll pop on over and snatch whatever's inside! C'mon! Let's try it out right here!"

"Well, I guess it's my turn to do this, right?" I guided Issun to the treasure chest with my tail, he somehow cut up all the chains, and brought us back a treasure.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Nothing stands in the way of my trusty sword, Denkomaru!" Issun bragged. "But listen up. I don't want you getting' any funny ideas. I may be one mean sucker, but don't go launching me at monsters. I mean, I might just loose it if you did that. You'd have to clean up the bloody aftermath. Okay, now that everything's clear, let's get going!"

"How does that even work?" I asked.

Issun gave me a questioning look. "How does what work?"

"How can Ammy and I guide you? That's not any brush technique I know of."

"I think it's called guidance, the brush technique of Michigami. It allows you to guide people if they trust you."

"Then how can we use it if we haven't found Michigami's constellation?" Ammy joined into the conversation.

"I think it's a minor brush technique or somethin'. Once you've learned enough main ones, you just kinda learn it automatically. But c'mon, enough with the stalling! We're loosin' daylight!"

We went forward, but at about the time we reached the chest, a giant foot came out of nowhere and nearly squished us. I jumped back in shock, then was hit with a feeling of déjà vu, and right afterwards, a realization. This was where Ammy had died in that dream. I crouched low to the ground, my ears pressed flat against my head, an automatic response to the bad memory.

"Whoa! That was close. Better watch out, or we'll end up on the bottom of someone's shoe. Heh heh. Now you know what I have to deal with! Anyway, this mist is getting thicker, isn't it? I knew there was something fishy about this palace!" He finally noticed my fear and just rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Fluffy. Just listen to what I say and we'll be fine."

I had a hard time believing that, but nodded. "All right, let's go." I made sure to keep a few pawsteps in front of Ammy. When it came down to it, she was heck of a lot more important than I was now. No way I'd let her die in front of me if I could help it.

We continued on the path and came to a fork in the road. On the left was a lockjaw, which we obviously couldn't get past yet. On the right was a gate guarded by a giant spider. I growled at it, but it didn't seem threatened at all. I felt my heart beating faster in fear. That thing was going to attack; I just knew it.

"See that, you two?" Issun pulled me out of my thoughts. "That's what they call a blocking spider. Those nasty buggers just won't let you by sometimes! They normally leave you alone, but they can be unpredictable. But I don't think this one will do any harm."

I glanced up at it. I knew that Issun wasn't right, no matter how much experience he had with this. I tried to come up with an idea, or at least some way to stall, before anyone got hurt.

"Can we throw something past it to make sure it doesn't attack?" I tried.

"Fluffy, stop being paranoid."

"I'll go first if you want, Celia." Ammy offered, starting to walk towards it, but I just pulled her back. That was exactly the opposite of what I wanted.

"No. I'll do it." I told her.

"Nothing's gonna happen." I heard Issun mutter in exasperation.

_I can't believe I'm doing this._ I thought. _Hey, Waka. Thanks for leaving out the little detail in which I risk my life._ I walked under the spider and just stood there for a few seconds. Right when I started to think I might've been wrong, I felt a giant explosion of pain. When I looked down, I could see the tip of the spider's fang coming out of my chest. It crawled back up to its previous perch and I hit the ground. I felt someone put a holy bone in front of my face, but I didn't have the strength to chew it from all the pain. Then everything went black.

I couldn't do anything but just stand there, gaping. Why'd the spider attack? It didn't' look like it was going to! One second Silver was just standing there and the next she was lying on the ground with a giant hole left from the spider's fangs. Ammy reacted instantly, grabbing her and pulling her away from the danger zone, but she was already barely alive. I grabbed a holy bone and put it in front of her face. She just stared at it, her eyes blank.

"Come on! Eat the stupid bone!" I pleaded.

"Issun, it won't work." Ammy said gently, pressing her head against my arm. I felt numb. How could Silver be dead? Just like that? It didn't make sense to me. I couldn't believe it even though her body was lying right in front of me with a wound that no one could hope to survive.

She was right. Why hadn't I been able to tell that the spider was going to attack? Any poncle my age should be able to figure it out. I just wanted to prove her wrong. She'd been right so many times in the past and she always loved shoving it in my face. I wanted to get back at her for it. Proving her wrong would've given me bragging rights, a minute of pride, maybe a little bit of respect from her, and hopefully an end to her annoyingly accurate guesses.

"Gomen nasai." I whispered, putting my face in her fur. I hadn't meant for this to happen. I felt an aching feeling in my chest. Guilt, sadness, regret. But I mostly felt lonely. I had no clue why, though. I still had Ammy. Would I feel the same way if Ammy was the one dead? I tried to imagine it, and the pain wasn't nearly as bad. I hugged her, not caring about all the blood. I felt Ammy sit next to me, her fur pressing against my side. She licked away the tears I didn't notice I'd been crying. She was trying to comfort me, but it felt like nothing could help.

I opened my eyes slowly, my head spinning. I tried to remember what had happened. Oh, yeah. I'd been freaking stabbed. Not fun. My breathing was shallow and I still felt the exact pain from before, but I could tell it was slowly going away. Then I realized someone was hugging me. I glanced over to see that it was Issun. What. The. Heck? I actually felt my wounds closing and saw my blood disappear, presumably back into my body. (Kinda weird to think about.)

"Um, did I just die?" I asked. Ammy and Issun looked up instantly at the sound of my voice.

"Thank gods." Ammy started licking my face and I tried to get away.

"Ammy, 'mother to us all' is just an expression. I'm not actually your daughter." I said as I struggled to dodge.

"I don't care. Now quit squirming, you're acting like a pup."

"How are you even alive?" I could tell Issun was in shock.

"Astral pouch, maybe?" I suggested, finally letting Ammy have her way and letting her lick my face, although it was embarrassing. Really, she was taking her title a bit too seriously.

"We have to be more careful. If anyone dies..." Ammy didn't finish the sentence; she didn't need to. Issun and I nodded grimly. We'd already had one close call. There wasn't room for any more mistakes.

"Does the spider look like it's going to attack again?" I asked.

Issun looked at it for a minute. "Probably not. It's just trying to intimidate now."

"Well then, let's go before it changes its mind." Ammy helped me up, Issun got onto her back, and we walked under it. (Rather cautiously; we didn't want to take any risks.) I was going slower than normal, probably from the blood loss, and I was aching all over, but I was determined to keep up. A foot was standing right in front of us, and considering there was no other way to continue forward, we just jumped onto it.

"Whoa...why'd you hitch a ride? Tired of walking or something?" Issun questioned.

"I know I am." I muttered.

"Well, big guy here doesn't seem to mind, so knock yourselves out!" The foot started to shake, so Ammy and I both got off before we were taken who-knows-where. We continued on the path, walking across some rocks in the middle of a lake of poisonous water, until Issun stopped us for something.

"Hey, what's that?" He asked. "Sounds like someone's crying." I looked in the direction Issun was pointing and saw a girl whose back was turned. "Isn't that a jail cell? Someone's in there. But I can't tell who she is. Her back is towards us. Well, they usually turn out to be ugly when they turn around, anyway. Plus, we don't wanna attract any attention if she raises a fuss. Forget about her. Let's keep going!" I glanced over at the girl, feeling bad for her, but reluctantly followed Issun and Ammy anyways.

We got a traveler's charm and a godly charm from two treasure chests, and then were promptly interrupted by a disk surrounded by lightning and with the face of some ugly person. I just used galestorm and Ammy hit it a few times with Tsumugari. We repeated the attack pattern, this time knocking the disk out, allowing us even more chances to strike. Then, just because I was feeling mischievous, (And partly out of revenge.) I guided Issun to the enemy and he grabbed a dragonfly bead. At this rate, we'd get loads of treasure just from fights. Ammy and I then finished the monster off, even getting the floral finisher. (Powerslash, in case you'd like to know.)

"I told ya not to do that!" Issun yelled in frustration once the fight was over and the barrier went down.

"Oh, come on. It'll get us treasure." I pointed out, and the argument was already won. Ammy let me opt out of the next room because it involved lots of running and I still felt like crap, to say the least. Although I have to say, I heard quite a bit of yelling while I waited patiently for my friends to return.

"Are you two okay? It sounded like a horror movie in there." I commented.

"A wha-?" Issun questioned, a clueless look on his face.

"Uhhh...never mind, you wouldn't understand." I said quickly. "Come on, let's get going!" I started to go back to the main path, but of course, we were interrupted _again._

"Hello? Is somebody there?" A voice asked. All three of us froze.

"Hm?"

"Are you mallet bearers? It's hard to see from here." The girl said. I sat down and tilted my head curiously.

"Mallet bearers? What the heck are you talkin' about?" Issun was just as confused as I was.

"Oh, who are you?" By the way the girl was hiding her face, I figured she was slightly scared of us.

"Oh, uh...just a couple of passersby...are you that girl we heard crying before? Sounded kinda fake if you ask me."

"Issun..." I said in a warning tone.

"You're not some no-good monster trying to trick us, are ya?"

"Issun!" I growled.

"What? Oh, no...at least, I don't think so." Well, at least the girl was honest. "I came to Sei-an City to sell some of my grandfather's bamboo ware. But the emperor who lives in this palace had me arrested."

"Your grandfather's bamboo ware...is your grandpa that Mr. Bamboo back in Kusa Village?" Issun guessed.

"You know my grandfather?"

"Yep." I answered.

"He raised me back in Kusa Village. My name is Kaguya." She apparently wasn't afraid of us any more simply due to the fact that we knew her grandfather, because she put her arm down and let us see her face. And I didn't need to look over at Issun to know he was drooling at the sight of her. Pervert. But all I was able to think about was the fact that she had blonde hair. No one had blonde hair in Nippon. It was definitely a surprise. "But I'm afraid that's about all I can tell you." Kaguya turned away from us slightly. "I don't know why I've been imprisoned here. I don't even know who I really am or where I originally came from."

"Another babe..." I couldn't help but glance over at Issun. He was, of course, staring at Kaguya with misty eyes. I felt a stab of jealousy, but tried to ignore it the best I could. Issun will be Issun and it shouldn't even matter to me. I wasn't like I was his girlfriend or anything. "How could Mr. Bamboo have such a cute granddaughter? Well, you just sit tight, honeypie! We'll get you out!" He slashed the air with Denkomaru. "The great Issun's gonna straighten out that mean old emperor. Then I'll come back and set you free!"

"No, I...um..." Kaguya stuttered. I felt the jealousy flare up again.

"Don't you sweat is, sweetie! You just sit tight! We're gonna search every nook and cranny of this palace. And I'm gonna give that emperor a piece of my mind when we find him! So don't you worry your pretty little head. My partners may not look like much now, but one of 'em is actually the great Amaterasu! Now just sit back and relax. We got it covered. Let's go, Ammy!" He jumped onto her back and they went back in the direction of the lockjaw, but I stayed behind for a second.

"I don't know if this will help, but...the emperor buried some treasure in the corner of his garden." Kaguya told me. "But please don't do anything risky."

"Don't worry. We won't." I assured her. "And we'll try to get you out of there ASAP." She looked at me curiously and I sighed. I just kept slipping up today. I decided to blame it on the apparent death I had experienced. "It means as soon as possible." She nodded, and I went off to follow Ammy and Issun. They'd probably freak out if I left them for too long, given recent events.

"Warn us next time you leave." Issun complained when I caught up.

"Sorry, dad." I growled under my breath, and I remembered why I hated Issun. We went through the pathway previously blocked off by the lockjaw, went down a hole, and came to a room with a whole bunch of spiders. Issun said something about them, but I decided to tune him out and just jumped to the lowest area before he was even done talking. Then, when Ammy had finally reached the bottom-most floor, we went into the next room.

Said room was full of weird treasures. And weirdly painted walls. But mostly the former. Although the treasure that intrigued us the most was...

"A flask?" Issun asked. "Is that even considered a treasure?"

"Does it really matter?" The blocking spider in the room seemed to be having mood swings, because one second it was perfectly fine with our arrival, the next it was making sure we stayed in the room for the rest of eternity. "Uh-oh! Wonder why that blocking spider got so bent outta shape all of a sudden. Now we're gonna have one heck of a time getting out of here."

"Can't we just wait for it to stop blocking the pathway?" I suggested, taking a step away, and the spider moved out of the way. "See?" But once I took a step towards it again, it blocked the exit.

"Stupid spider!" Issun complained. "But don't do anything you'll regret, Fluffy."

"Oh, like dying? Been there, done that. Not in the mood to experience it again." I said in an exasperated tone. "You don't have to remind me how dangerous these things are."

Without any warning at all, Ammy powerslashed the rope the flask was hanging from and jumped into it, with me having to follow. The air was a lot cleaner in there. I took a deep breath. I never knew that fresh air could smell so good.

"Hey, there's a strange mist in this flask, too." Issun noted. "But it's somehow different from that mist outside. I dunno...it feels kinda comforting." Ammy decided to use galestorm, which blew us, along with the mist, out of the flask. "Wow! You're getting good at that one! Almost too good!"

"Thank you." Ammy smiled.

Aaand the jealousy was back.

"I dunno why the emperor hid this flask here, but he shouldn't be hogging such comforting mist all to himself!" The stars started shining, even though it was clearly daytime and we were clearly underground. "Hey, it's that starlight again! What's it doing here?"

Totally ignoring the lack of all logic in the situation, Ammy and I finished the constellation with two dots each. A sheep with a flask full of sake on her back appeared. And promptly fell to the ground. After she got up, four imp banjos flew towards her. She drank some sake, and time slowed down as she jumped in the air. She knocked all of the instruments away and landed as time returned to normal, and I had an instant respect for the brush god.

"Ah...Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all...and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon..." The goddess said as she kept stumbling around. "After our separation, I took to wandering the corners of the earth. Before long, I was sealed away here by a sinister power. Your arrival has broken that seal. Now I, Kasugami, grant you the power of mist. Glisten over all creation like fleeting dew!" And with one last trip, she gave us her brush technique.

"So that's why the emperor hid this flask like it was a treasure. Kasugami, the god of mist, was inside!" Issun realized. "They say Kasugami can wrap the world in a thick mist that slows down time for all things. I really did feel like I was in a dream world with no sense of time. But enough of that! That's one awesome power you just got back, Ammy! If the legend's true, that brush technique can slow down any monster with a single stroke, even a blocking spider!"

"Let's try it, then!" I said impatiently. Was that kind of ironic, given the situation?

"Just draw the mark on the flask." Issun instructed.

"Wait, what mark? I didn't see a mark."

"It's two horizontal lines." Ammy told me and demonstrated.

"Wh-what the? The blocking spider slowed down!" Yeah, forgot to mention, the mood swing-y spider either really enjoyed crawling up and down on its small strand of web...or it was having some type of seizure. I wasn't quite sure which it was, and I probably didn't want to know.

"Isn't that the whole idea behind the brush technique?"

"Oh, yeah...well, I finally realized something. The emperor must have a screw loose or something."

"Took you this long to realize it and not before we went on the sunken ship?"

"Okay, you two need to stop before this turns into a full blown argument." Ammy interrupted. "Celia, do you want to try this time?"

"Sure." I quickly made the mark (Ha, more irony.) and saw four kanji symbols appear in my vision, representing how long the mist would last. "Run!" Ammy and I dashed under the blocking spider, but straight into a battle in the next room. It was another one of those disk enemies, except with wind as its element. The fight was basically the exact same as the previous one as well, except veil of mist replacing galestorm. (After all, you can't fight fire with fire, or in this case, wind with wind.) It really wasn't that tough of a fight. We stopped once we reached Kaguya's cell.

"Heya, Kaguya. You were right about the emperor hiding treasure in his garden. Thanks to you, Ammy here got another brush technique back!" Issun announced.

"Don't do anything dangerous on account of me. Please be careful, you three." Kaguya told us.

"Don't you worry, honeypie! We'll get you outta there once we've raked that emperor over the coals and figured out what's behind that swirling mist." And with that, we continued onwards...although I paused at the next golden gate.

"Guess I've got no choice but to go out there this time, huh?" I asked with a slightly bitter laugh. "This aughtta be fun."

"Just a warning, they'll try to track you." Ammy told me.

"Thank you for those kind words of encouragement. That really boosted my self-esteem and courage in the face of this situation."

"Don't worry. I'll stay right by your side. And if one of them comes after us, I'll lead it away." She tried to comfort me. "Issun, you just keep using veil of mist. Use an inkfinity stone if you have to."

"Alrighty." Issun said, giving a thumbs up.

"Ready..."

"Set..."

"Go!" Ammy yelled and we both sprang out into the open. Issun, like he was told, spammed veil of mist, re-using the brush technique after two of the symbols disappeared just to be safe. We didn't stop running until we got to the next area.

"I guess that wasn't too bad..." I admitted, although I was gasping for air.

"But that might be." Issun pointed to the puzzle in front of us: a series of bamboo bridges, small islands, and waterspout levers, topped off with the guarantee of insta-death by poisonous water with one misplaced step.

Fun.

It started off with a golden gate, followed by a small bamboo bridge and an island. Up next was a bamboo sprout that we were able to run across after using waterspout, a near fall on the next bamboo stalk bridge, and the ultimate leap of faith- a jump from an unbalanced and dangerous waterspout lever on a time limit to a bamboo stalk which was pouring out poison water. Now do you understand my pain? (Just say yes and get on with your life, please.) After that it was just a ride on a platform spider up to the emperor's room.

Said emperor didn't look good, to say the least. He was lying in his bed, sleeping. (Should I mention his snore sounded like a volcano ready do blow?) The green mist was pouring out of his mouth, which looked how the palace did from Sei-an, due to our size. He twitched erratically in his sleep and, believe it or not, his face was _purple._ I'm completely serious. I would've thought he was either suffocating or dead if I hadn't been able to see the rise and fall of his chest. (Or heard his horrible snoring, but you'd have to be deaf not to hear it.)

"Hm? Hey, look over there, you two! Isn't that the emperor? I'd heard that he was sick in bed, but I never expected him to be the source of that funky mist! Now, how we gonna straighten out this royal oaf? I mean, we're still too big to fit through his mosquito net."

"The platform spiders?" Ammy suggested.

"Let's get rid of these monsters first for fun." I said and ran into the first floating scroll I spotted. Although I have to admit, the second battle was much more fun that the first. (Reflectors equipped as subweapons. You learn to love them.) Then we started the slow, tedious process of making our way to the emperor. Once we got to the rafters, the process became even _more_ slow and tedious since we had to check everywhere to make sure we didn't miss anything. The swinging spiders constantly knocking us back to the ground didn't help, either. But after a lot (Emphasis on a lot.) of fails, we finally made it to our destination.

"Check it out, you two. The emperor's directly below us." Issun informed us. "It's like the royal oaf's mouth is just begging us to dive on in!"

I shared a glance with Ammy. "...leap before you think...?"

"You can stay back, if you prefer." I swear, whenever someone says that something just snaps inside me.

"LEAP BEFORE YOU THINK!" I yelled, jumping off the rafter and into the emperor's mouth.

"...are we inside the emperor's body now?" Issun asked.

"Uhh..." I took in my surroundings. They were so disgusting I'll spare you from a trip to the toilet, garbage can, or wherever you'd like to run to and not tell you about it. "Bleh, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!" I picked up my paws like the surface below us was made out of hot coals.

"Wow. You two are fearless wolves." Issun said in an impressed tone.

"I don't care! This is gross beyond all reason!" I was trying not to barf just because of how disgusting that would be for the emperor...although I will neither confirm nor deny any accusations you throw at me.

"This should be the fastest way to get to the root of the problem. Hey, what's this funny looking thing here?"

"It's called a uvula and if you touch it, I'll make you wish you were never born...on the off chance the emperor's gag reflex doesn't do it first." I warned.

"All right, all right. Jeez." Issun muttered. "Now, onward!"

"Not your pets."

"Just go."

"Because you asked so kindly."

"Here we go again." Ammy sighed.

We ran down the emperor's tongue, stopped at, I kid you not, an origin mirror, and went through I don't know and I don't think I even want to know. Let's just call it a doorway to save us all from barfing.

"Wonder what's in there."

"Stomach acid that will digest us all within minutes?"

"I have a feeling we're in for trouble."

"No, because being digested is a good thing."

"But we're not turnin' back now, are we?"

"It's your last chance to turn back." Ammy told me.

I scoffed. "I could say the same to you."

"Well then, let's go."

"Good answer. Okay, you know the drill!" Issun said.

"Leap before you think!" We all chorused. A short sprint, a leap, and an amazingly not failed landing later, we were where the boss of this area no doubt was. Of course, my mind automatically played the tense music from back in the Tsuta Ruins and Gale Shrine. A glowing blue sword in the middle of the 'arena' stuck out like a sore thumb. But after about twenty seconds the mist became much more interesting.

"No way! This is insane!" Issun exclaimed. "This mist...it's alive!" As if it heard him, (Which it probably did, come to think of it.) all the mist was pulled into the sword. A body of armor that was pierced with arrows and swords but had no actual body appeared and picked up the blue sword.

"Under my control, this body breathes evil mist over the city." A voice, presumably the mist's, echoed ominously. "And you, mutts...you dare attempt to clear the skies of my poison?"

"That's kinda why we're here." I pointed out.

"Waging battle with me inside a human body will be no easy task."

"I think we can handle it."

"Even now, Goldnail, the mighty sword, cries out for your blood!"

"Uh..." Ammy just stared. "That's a weird thing to tell someone."

"The sword is blue. Bad naming on his part." I commented.

"Come! Step forward so that I, the indomitable Blight, may cut you down!"

Issun jumped off Ammy's back, did about fifty flips in the air, and knocked Blight back with Denkomaru when he landed. "Heh heh, I'll step forward all right!"

"Don't get yourself killed." I called with a hint of boredom in my voice. Hey, it's fun to taunt bosses before you fight them.

"You're a real piece o' work, Blight! Better say your prayers!" Issun said with a smirk.

"You uncultured wretch!" Blight spat.

"Um, what does being uncultured have to do with any of this?"

"No clue. I think he's trying to insult me."

"Oh...still doesn't make sense."

Blight stood up and pointed his sword at us. "Be warned. We are in the very bowels of the emperor."

"When'd we pass the stomach?"

"Does that mean we've already been digested?"

"So I guess we're fighting him in the afterlife...?"

Blight ignored us, figuring we were just trying to be obnoxious and annoying at that point. "If we fight here, his body will not-"

"Gimme a break!" Issun interrupted. "I little action here will wake him up! But never mind that. You're the one behind that poison mist! Possessing a human body my be an elaborate trick, but it ends now! With my supreme blade Denkomaru, I, the magnificent Issun, shall-"

"Okay, now you're just getting cocky."

"You ruined it." Issun grumbled. Ammy just grabbed him and tossed him on her back, and the battle commenced. Only then did I realize this would be my first blind fight.

...This was bound to end in failure.

Blight started to shake and we all stared, trying to figure out what would happen next. Then Ammy let out a yelp and hit the ground. Blight, who was in a completely different place than before, would've been smirking if he had a face.

"Teleporting?" I guessed.

"Nope. We got hit." Ammy reported as she stood up and shook her fur. "Issun, get off. We'll all have less chance of getting hit." He complied, jumping off her back and pulling out Denkomaru.

Swords started to surround Blight and we all powerslashed like mad. Goldnail fell to the ground, looking stunned, (How a sword can even look stunned is beyond me.) so we all came in and started attacking it, using veil of mist to get more hits in, of course. We were all suddenly blasted back by something, probably Goldnail's counterattack or something, and it hovered back over to Blight, reviving its master.

"Everyone jump!" Ammy commanded once Blight was conscious again. Issun and I obeyed, none of us getting hit in that cycle.

"What's he doing?" Issun asked, referring to the attack.

An idea formed in my mind. "All right, you two jump, I'll use veil of mist." They both nodded and we waited for Blight to shake again. Once that happened, I used the new brush technique and, sure enough, Blight charged at me. Although trying to use my reflector to counterattack did nothing, he was dazed at the end, which gave me a chance to hit him. That, in turn, knocked Goldnail away from him and it was time to gang up on the sword again. We didn't do much damage that round, but at least we had the pattern down.

"I'll go this time." Ammy offered, so Issun and I let her do it. Unfortunately, Blight wasn't stunned after charging that time, so we had to wait for him to just do his sword attack. After knocking out Blight and Goldnail, we all just decided to cheat and use exorcism slips, the boss fight was over, and we had the honor of watching a seriously weird death scene that cannot even be described. If you really want to know what it looks like, either play Okami or watch it on youtube, because we all know my descriptions fail, anyways.

_Blight, a disease residing within the emperor's body and born of the intense hatred and evil of the cursed sword Goldnail, was the source of the acrid mist that had plagued the capital's citizenry. But even a creature so despicable and full of hatred was no batch for our intrepid heroes Amaterasu, Issun, and Celia. Blight's defeat brought with it a lifting of the acrid fog. The emperor, now freed of evil's influence, returned to normal. Amaterasu and the others had earned a brief moment of respite. However, evil conspired to cut the tranquil scene short. From Goldnail's defeated form rose the familiar blackness. The spirit of evil and hatred that had resided within the sword, black as midnight and deep as the sea, rose skyward. Make no mistake...this was undoubtedly one of the foul spirits that dispersed from Orochi's broken body. Quickly and steadily it rose. Then, it shot off toward the distant sea and over the horizon. It moved with purpose, as to rendezvous with a lost friend. Amaterasu and the others had no time to rest. If they were truly to restore the capital to its normal routine, they still had to deal with the threat of the Water Dragon. This tale is far from over...hey, you! Aren't you forgetting something?_

"You had it coming big time, gas bag!" Issun yelled into the air like Blight was still alive to hear him or something. "You aren't even in the same league as the magnificent Issun! Well, you two, that's that! How 'bout one of those victory howls? Oh, wait...I almost forgot! That babe Kaguya's still locked up! Ammy, Silver, seems pops here is still snoozing away. How 'bout we just take control and make him unlock her cell? Why bother with waking him up to explain everything, anyway?"

"This should be good." I rolled my eyes.

"You don't get it, do ya?"

"Not really." Ammy admitted.

"Alright, watch and learn, my furry friends!" Issun did what he did best: jumped around like a flea. (If someone had been able to see him, they'd probably have thought he was one.) "First, I'll stir up his stomach like this, and then..." Everything started shaking. "What the? Yikes!" Luckily, after a few seconds, it stopped, but I was incredibly dizzy to say the least, and I'd somehow ended up on my head, leaning up against Ammy, who was on her back.

"That...wasn't exactly fun..." I muttered. Ammy rolled onto her belly and stood up, causing me to fall onto my back.

"What the?" Issun asked again. He had somehow gotten wedged between two...things. (No idea what they were, and again, I really don't want to know.) "Are you two okay?"

"I'm fine." I reported.

"Same." Ammy grabbed Issun's shoe and started to pull.

"Well, looks like we got the emperor to stand up." He announced. "C'mon! We gotta get this royal oaf moving. Let's get him over to where they're holding Kaguya!" Ammy finally succeeded in freeing him, but they both ended up flying into me and we all hit the wall and dropped to the ground in a pathetic pile of wolves and a poncle.

"This will be fun." I said sarcastically, shaking Issun's cape off my head.

And thus commenced the great bouncing war. The rules were simple: bounce around the emperor's stomach like a hyper lunatic on crack and try not to fall when the emperor starts walking. Whoever falls the least times wins. The battle went on for a good thirty minutes before we finally made it to Kaguya's cell.

"Are you...the emperor?" Kaguya asked in a timid voice. "But if you're here, does that mean those three are...? Oh dear! It's all my fault! How shall I ever apologize?"

"Hm...let's see...how 'bout you start off by making me a hundred dumplings!" Issun suggested with a huge smile.

"You can be so inconsiderate towards others, you know that?" I commented.

"Huh?"

"Heh heh...just pulling your leg, sweetie!"

"Be thankful you don't have to travel with him!"

"I heard that!"

"I'm aware!"

"Those voices..." Kaguya trailed, her mood lifting a little.

"You think we'd buy the farm that easy?" Issun questioned.

"Need I remind you of the incident right before we met Kaguya?"

"No. Anyways, the emperor was being controlled by a nasty stomach virus, but we took care of it. Things should get back to normal soon. Now, let's make this royal oaf open your cell! Let's see..." Issun, I kid you not, started doing the Konahana Shuffle. And he actually succeeded in opening the cell. Yeah, I didn't understand it, either.

"Oh, thank you! I thought I'd never get out of there!"

"No time for chit-chat, Bamboo Girl. We freed the emperor from that monster controlling him, but things are still a bit dicey around here. We're gonna hightail it outta this place. I suggest you do, too! Now, let's see here...oh, yeah." Issun bounced up to the platform we had jumped off.

"Don't tell me he's doing what I think he's doing." I begged.

"Going to poke the uvula? Most likely." Ammy answered.

"I'm going to murder that poncle." I muttered darkly.

"Coochie coochie coo!" We were all launched out of the emperor's body, Ammy and I growing back to our regular sizes as we landed in the garden. Ammy was the first to stand and I quickly copied. "Heh heh...I know what you two wanna do!"

"Victory howl." I smiled.

"I agree. That'll make it feel like we've set things straight here! I mean, we've already freed that Bamboo Girl. Now give us one of those victory howls to wake up the emperor!" Ammy and I complied, both of us letting out optimistic howls. I smiled one more time. That was something we hadn't heard in a while, and something we wouldn't hear for a while, so we all enjoyed the fifteen seconds of peace while we could.

* * *

><p>Oookay, I felt the need to have a short (Yes, you heard me right. Short.) author's note at the end of this chapter. Did anyone notice a slight change in writing style for this chapter? No? Well, there was. It was completely accidental and it won't happen in the later chapters. I actually wrote this chapter right after reading an entire fanfiction, and I think the style of that story kind of stayed with me a few days afterwards. Just in case there are any insane copyright-crazed people reading my story, (Even though this isn't really considered copyright infringement at all...*shrug*) the fanfiction that I read can be found here: .nets/4313487/1/My_Adventure_with_Olimar


	22. Dialogue and Plot Progression

Long author notes aren't fun, huh? Unfortunately, there's another one comin' right up.

Okay, I know I've been really bad with procrastinating on chapters. And I guess I should finally tell you all why.

I normally like to keep my written chapters a good distance away from the uploaded chapters. But I've started to think the chapters are getting a bit too close. Now, I do this for two reasons. One: typing chapters takes a really long time, given how long they are. If I made the chapter a while ago, it's a little bit more fun for me. It's like re-reading a fanfiction you haven't looked at in forever. I get enjoyment from reading my work as much as you guys do, but if it's not older work, it feels too redundant when I'm reading and typing. But reason number two is a bit more important. I'm always improving my writing. I'll have a better chance at noticing my mistakes if the gap between written and typed up chapters is pretty big. And I want to give you guys the best I can when I write this story.

Now, you all may be wondering, well, why don't I just get my butt into high gear and start writing more when I'm over at my dad's house? Well, this is the thing I've only told one person so far. No, I'm not suffering from writer's block. I reached the Oni Island chapter quite a while ago. No, I am not afraid of the level itself. The problem is, and I'm not sure if this only happens to me, but I normally associate things closely with one another. Like once when I was watching a walkthrough of Portal 2, I was eating smoked salmon. Now any time I think about Portal 2, I can taste smoked salmon, and vice versa. Well, due to something that happened around my first playthrough of Oni Island, that level now puts me on edge. So basically, I'm dealing with some major paranoia while writing this, so I want to work on it in the daytime instead of at night. Unfortunately for me, I seem to have aquired a stalker of a little kid who follows me and my wii around like a moth to flame whenever I'm at my dad's house. Trust me, I would much rather be facing my fear of Oni Island rather than playing free-for-all battles in NSMBW and doing race after race in Mario Kart for hours on end. Honestly, when I was smaller I did this to a few people, so I guess this is karma coming back to bite me in the butt, but until it's had it gets bored of bothering me, the updates are probably still gonna be pretty eratic for a while. I'm sorry, everyone, but please just bear with this until everything gets back to being relatively normal.

Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have about half an hour left to kill, so I'm going to go look up a Majora's Mask walkthrough, because I am honestly stuck in Woodfall Temple and I'd like to progress through the game. TO CHUGGAACONROY'S CHANNEL!

Celia: *face/palm* Desi doesn't own Okami. She owns me. And she reminds me of that fact. Every. Freaking. Day.

Chapter 19- Dialogue and plot progression

"Hm...I wonder what was wrong with me." The emperor said. He had woken up from the victory howls and apparently wanted to talk, even though we were wolves. I dunno how that works, but oh well. "People say I took to my bed with an illness, but I don't recall. I remember meeting with a bamboo seller named Kaguya. And I remember a secret treasure for crossing a sea of fire...but I've totally lost my memory of what happened after that. It's almost like I was possessed by a strange spirit."

"Bah, talk about a troublesome emperor! But Kaguya's safe and all. Guess we can cut him some slack."

"Two white and silver wolves...and a curious bouncing ball...I have an uncanny feeling that I had a dream about you three. I must apologize to Queen Himiko for my unforgivable blunders!"

"Himiko...yes! That's it, you two! This city's a complete mess. And Queen Himiko's not doing a thing about it!"

"You just remembered?" I questioned.

"There's no excuse for her just sitting around in her palace!"

"Of course you just ignore me."

"Boy, am I gonna give her a piece of my mind!"

The emperor decided to speak up again. "Ah, the lovely white and silver wolves. For some reason, I seem to feel so relaxed when you two are around. I have this peaceful feeling, as though you know me inside out."

"Oh, we know you from the inside, believe me!"

"Never doing something like that again." I commented.

"Agreed." Ammy nodded.

"I'm collecting demon fangs, you know." The emperor told us. "If you have any for me, you can take some of my treasure. People will probably say I'm foolish for giving treasure to wolves. But you're my lucky wolves! I'm certain some good will come of it. Surely you've collected lots of them, eh? What do you think? Would you like to make a swap?" We got the fog pot, and guess what! We unexpectedly teleported to the place where we normally get brush techniques! And the brush god in front of us was none other than the totally epic Kasugami.

"Ah, Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all...and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon...our separation had weakened me. My power has reached its peak. I hereby bestow upon you the power of mist warp!" And then we were back where we started.

"Whoa! Never expected something like that from a flask!"

"Even though the last flask we ran into caused a constellation to shine underground?"

"Shut up. At least we got another technique. That's all that matters." It was only then that we realized it was already night somehow, signaling it was time for us to leave. (Okay, I don't know why that caused us to leave. But we had nothing else to do there, and video game logic always wins.)

Although we did run into Kaguya at the front of the palace.

"Heya, bamboo girl!" Issun greeted. Cue jealousy. Again. I was starting to get sick of it. "What're you doing spacing out here? I mean, you're free now. You can go anywhere you want."

Kaguya turned around. "Oh, hello, you three! I hardly recognize you! You were so tiny when we first met. You certainly cut a dashing figure at full size!"

"Ya think so?" Issun asked. "Well, actually, I hear stuff like that all the time!" All three of us stared at him.

"Oh, yes...I meant you, too, Issun..."

"Anyway, the city is a dangerous place right now. You should head back to your grandpa's house. That emperor fella's got an eye for that treasure of yours, right? You should get away before others start sniffin' around! Plus, your grandpa seems awfully lonely, ya know."

"Really?" Kaguya asked. "Oh, I see...that dear old man thinks of me as his own granddaughter. I would really like to return, but..."

"Wait, you're _not_ his granddaughter?"

"So your real family lives somewhere else?" I added.

"Aw, anyway... you should just go see him if you feel that way."

Kaguya was quiet for a second. "I know nothing of my past. I don't even know who I am or where I came from. My first memory is of waking up in a bamboo grove. The bamboo cutter took me home, where I was lovingly cared for. To repay his kindness, I helped him with his bamboo ware."

"If that's the case...then why don't you hurry up and go see him?"

"I know noth-"

"Okay, do you just have short-term memory loss or something? Because you just told us this literally ten seconds ago." I pointed out.

"I _do_ recall one faint memory, though..."

"That means you just lied a few seconds ago."

"I thought long and hard while I was imprisoned. It was then that I remembered being in a small, dark room long ago. That's all I can think about now."

"Until you remember something else within the next minute and can't stop thinking about _that_."

"Exactly."

"I feel I must get there as soon as I can!"

"I feel as though no one cares about me because the few people who can actually understand me seem to make a habit of ignoring me!"

"I cannot escape this feeling..."

"Hm...that's a pretty weird story." Issun commented. "I mean, you don't even know where it is you want to go back to!"

"Bits and pieces of my memory are coming back in flashes."

"ALL THIS FROM ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TWO MINUTES AGO!" I didn't hear the rest of what Kaguya had said due to the fact that I was busy bashing my head on the nearest rock.

Issun started bounding on my head to get my attention. "C'mon, Fluffy! We're goin' to Sasa Santuary!"

"I think there's a mermaid fountain in that direction." Ammy pointed with her tail to a bridge on the right. "We've got a mermaid coin..."

"Hooray for shortcuts." I said dully. I would've been more enthusiastic, but apparently head/rock-ing isn't that great for the brain and I felt dizzy at the moment.

"All right, let's go!"

Once we had gotten back to the place we first met (And fought...and nearly lost to...okay, moving right along...) Take, we saw Mr. Bamboo and Kaguya. How the heck she got there faster than us even though we used a mermaid fountain, I'll never know.

"The gods be praised! Is it really you, Kaguya?" Mr. Bamboo asked. "I never thought I'd see you again after the emperor suddenly summoned you to Sei-an City. Kaguya...dear Kaguya..."

"It feels like ages since we last met, grandfather. My, look at all those new wrinkles. Have I worried you so? Oh, grandfather..." Kaguya sobbed.

"I thought you guys would run into each other here." Issun said in an 'I told you so' voice, even though anyone could've guessed it. "I'm happy for you two!"

"Oh, Kaguya. Let us live together happily ever after! We could sell my bamboo ware, just you and me!"

"Huh?" The shock was evident on Kaguya's face. Then it turned to sadness and guilt. "Oh, uh..."

"Hm? What's wrong, Kaguya? Do you have to return to the emperor?"

"No, that's not it. It's just...I cannot live with you, grandfather."

"Huh?" Mr. Bamboo looked extremely confused. "Huh...? What are you talking about, Kaguya? You're not eloping or running away from something, are you?"

"I didn't know you were here, grandfather." She sighed. "It would have been better if we had not met before I departed."

"Depart? Where are you going?"

"I'm not sure. The royal crest carved into the earth here in Sasa Sanctuary...it calls to me!" Kaguya started glowing and a hole suddenly appeared in the ground.

"What the?" Issun gasped. I felt the same way.

"Kaguya, what are you doing?" Mr. Bamboo questioned.

"It's as if I'm being driven by some invisible force. Below this crest...far below the earth...something linked to my mysterious past awaits! I must go! I must see what lies within this hole!" And with that, she jumped into said hole.

"Kaguya...Kaguya!" Mr. Bamboo called desperately.

"No! Don't do it, bamboo girl! It's too dangerous! After her!"

"Ammy, stay back. I'll do this." I told her. She looked unsure. "Listen, I don't know why, but I think it'll be faster this way."

"All right." She nodded. I jumped down the hole and landed on a block of sand with Kaguya. I felt a tiny person drop onto my head, though.

"Issun!" I growled. "You're going to slow us down with arguments!"

"I came to help. I'll warn you if bamboo girl's about to walk into danger. I can see more of the surroundings that you."

"All right, fine." I know this sounds strange, but there was a voice in my mind guiding me through what to do. I just assumed it was Shamiterasu, seeing as she helped me out here before. I powerslashed the wood to my left and started digging through the sand below me and Issun made a cherry bomb, blowing up most of the sand blocks in the area. I became slightly paranoid with all the spikes the explosion had uncovered, but forced myself to trust Issun. Said poncle made another cherry bomb in what I assumed was the area below us, because the sand block I was standing on just disappeared and we had a pretty wide area to move around in.

"I don't know where bamboo girl is!" Issun reported with fear evident in his voice. I double jumped over spikes and waited for Kaguya to walk down to us, then used galestorm to blow her over the same spikes and down to where I had been a second ago. Kaguya, thankfully, walked to the right, which was where Shami was telling me to go. As soon as I dug up the sand block, Kaguya walked off the ledge and down to where Issun and I were. I powerslashed a wooden block and head-butted a dirt block, although I hit the spikes behind me once. And I learned that those things hurt.

"Fluffy!" I looked up and saw that Kaguya was walking straight towards the spikes I had just stepped on. I quickly used galestorm to get her to safety.

"Thanks." I said as I started digging through a block.

"Don't mention it."

"_There's water below you."_ Shamiterasu told me. _Get up onto that black block and cherry bomb the ground you're standing on now. Kaguya won't walk off, there's wood to the right. Use waterspout when I say and go down the path of sand and dirt."_ I nodded and did exactly as she said. Too bad wood was apparently also affected by cherry bomb.

"Thanks a lot!" I yelled to the air.

"_Sorry! I didn't know! Jeez! Just use waterspout."_ I followed her directions once more, although I was getting skeptical.

"Who're you talking to?" Issun asked.

"Huh? Oh, no one." I quickly got back to digging, hoping Issun wouldn't push it. Luckily for me, he didn't. Once we got to a black block, there were some wooden ones to our right that I powerslashed. I jumped over the spikes, destroyed some sand with my head, and by then Kaguya was close enough that I could get her over the spikes safely with galestorm. After yet another fail with waterspout, it was just a couple of digs to the bottom. Kaguya found the spot she was looking for, I started digging, and after that we got the heck out of here.

We were all quiet for a few seconds, not knowing what to expect. But we sure weren't prepared to see a giant rocket to emerge from the ground.

"B-Bamboo girl?" Issun asked hesitantly. "Wh-what the heck? Looks like a bamboo shoot, except its metal and insanely huge!" I suddenly realized that I was the only one present who knew what a rocket was. Wow, that was kinda sad.

"This…this is what was calling me. It's the link to my mysterious past!"

"Kaguya…" Mr. Bamboo started. "I knew…I knew that this giant bamboo shoot was buried here in Sasa Sanctuary…"

"You did?" Kaguya turned around to face her grandfather. "But…"

"One day, many years ago, I came here to cut down some bamboo. Suddenly, this giant bamboo shoot appeared right before my eyes! Your cold and nearly lifeless body came tumbling out. Then, this giant bamboo shoot disappeared back into the ground. You were cold as ice and looked like you might die at any minute. I quickly picked you up and rushed you home. My dearly departed wife and I nursed you back to health. We had always wanted a child. You were like a blessing from the heavens. You brought joy into our lives. I couldn't tell you the truth. I feared that if you found out, you would seek out this strange bamboo shoot. I feared that it would take you away from us forever! Don't go!" Mr. Bamboo pleaded. "Don't go, Kaguya!"

"Grandfather!" I could see tears forming in Kaguya's eyes. She and Mr. Bamboo hugged, and I swear, even I felt my eyes getting watery. As if that doesn't prove the sadness of the situation, would you believe me if I said Issun was sobbing? "I always thought of you and dearly departed grandmother as my real family! And that feeling shall never fade. Though I may leave, my heart remains with you. Remember that! But I cannot stay here with you. A mysterious force is calling me. I cannot resist. I must discover where I came from! Don't worry. I will come back to you. I just need to know. So, I beg of you, oh grandfather dear…see me off with a smile on your face!"

"Okay…I will, Kaguya! Go wherever you may! I only ask that when you get there, you remember one thing. You are my precious grandchild. Never forget that! You are my dearest, most precious grandchild!"

"Oh, grandfather!" And then they both hugged again.

"His precious grandchild…" Issun muttered. "Huh? Oh, I wasn't thinking about home or anything…no, really!"

"Riiight…"

"Issun, Celia, Amaterasu…I'm forever grateful to you. I could never thank you enough for what you did for me…"

"It was no problem." I told her.

She gave a small nod. "But please, accept this as a token of my appreciation." She said and gave us a red tablet. "It was my sole link to my mysterious past. But now that I'm returning home, I shall need it no longer. May it help you in your travels. It is time. Time for me to depart. Thank you, you three! Thank you, grandfather! Farewell, and may we meet again someday!"

Kaguya got in the rocket and glass encased her like a bubble. I have no idea how she knew how to control the thing, but she apparently knew anyways. It blasted off into the sky and when I glanced over at Mr. Bamboo, I saw a tear slide down his face.

"Well, it's gone." Issun sighed once the rocket was out of sight. "Wonder where it's headed. I hope that bamboo girl has a safe journey wherever it leads." Ammy and I kept staring up at the sky. "Hey, you two! Get the lead out! We got sidetracked helping that bamboo girl. Let's get going. We have work to do. We gotta rake that queen over the coals! She's got some explaining to do!"

"Can't we do that tomorrow?" I asked, lying down in the bamboo.

"What? No! Silver, don't tell me you're tired now!"

"I'm tired. Deal with it, poncle."

"Issun, let her sleep if she wants. We can go fight some imps until we get tired." Ammy suggested.

"…fine." They both left and I quickly fell to sleep after staring at the moon.

Once we were all awake the next morning, we used a mermaid spring to get to the aristocratic quarter. Because shortcuts are fun. We paid a visit to the emperor and got the golden ink pot, which made our ink refill three times faster than before. Very useful. Then we tried (and failed) to get into Himiko's palace. The guards just kicked us out whenever we got close. Our solution: use veil of mist to run past them without any more trouble.

"Y'know, I'm starting to really like this brush technique." I commented as we looked around for treasure. All we managed to find was a stray bead and a clover, but hey, it was better than nothin'. After going into the building, (And finding yet another stray bead.) we were stopped by a woman who was randomly standing inside.

"Why, it really is you…" She whispered in awe. "Her Majesty, Queen Himiko, has foreseen your coming. You must not delay. Please, Queen Himiko awaits on the top floor!"

"Himiko's waiting…for us?" Issun asked skeptically.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this." I commented.

"If you're really the ones Queen Himiko has been looking for, even a boiling sea of flames won't stand in your way, will it?"

"Boiling sea of flames?" My eyes were wide. "Are you kidding?" Ammy grabbed my neck (Like a wolf would do with her pups.) and pulled me into the elevator. "Do you have to keep treating me like I'm a baby?" I complained as the elevator started moving.

"It's just my natural instinct." Ammy told me.

"Can you resist your instinct?"

"That's hard for a god to do."

I sighed. "Of course." The door opened and we saw a room- wait, scratch that- _three_ rooms full of hot, bubbling lava.

"Whoa!" Issun exclaimed.

"I'm going to get blisters from this heat in a minute."

"What the heck? What's all this lava doing here? Ammy, you may be a god now, but…you'd end up a crispy critter if you fell in this stuff!"

"I'm becoming a crispy critter and I'm not even touching it."

"But we're not givin' up that easy! Did Himiko really think this could stop the great Amaterasu and Silver? Why don't we just equip that thing we got?" Ammy did what he said, having to replace the peace bell for the time being. "That Himiko's sure making things difficult. She must really have a good reason for wanting to keep people away. Let's keep going, you two. But be careful!"

"Leap before you think…?" I asked hesitantly. Ammy nodded and jumped right in. She wasn't burning. She even looked like she was enjoying it, so I took a deep breath and dove in. It actually felt really good, like a hot tub. Although I wanted to stay in there forever, we had to go see Himiko, so we quickly swam to the other side. After running through five empty rooms of emptiness and one room with an origin mirror, we finally came to the one Himiko was in. It was huge, had a crapton of candles in it, and towards the back was a curtain, presumable with the queen herself behind it. The candles flickered ominously as we made our way to the back. I got in a battle stance, although Ammy just stood calmly.

"Hey, you two. I bet that's Himiko." Issun referred to the figure behind the curtain. "Looks like the freaky shut-in is prayin' or something! Heh heh. The security here was pretty tight…"

"More like downright overkill." I put in.

"But it was nothing we couldn't handle!" I snarled at the figure. "Yeah! You tell her, Silver!"

"Benevolent Amaterasu…courageous Celia…I have been waiting for you." Himiko said gently. "And Issun the wandering artist, you too, of course."

"Hey, how d'ya know our names?" Issun questioned. "Anyway, first things first. You knew about that funky mist and the Water Dragon, didn't ya? You've got some explaining to do!"

"Tell us what you're up to!" I demanded.

Himiko started sobbing. "My people…my poor people…their suffering torments me. Sickened by this mist, and then terrorized by the Water Dragon…the cries of their pain wash over me like a torment!" The candles in the room turned brighter for a second before darkening, then going back to normal.

"We know what's going on. _You're_ tormenting the people of this city. You must be a monster feeding off the ill will it generates! Now stop stalling and raise this grimy old curtain. C'mon! Show yourself, ya old hag!"

"Issun. Your words are very harsh." Himiko said in a slightly hurt tone. I didn't know if I could believe it or not. "But you are right. It was rude of me to hide my face from you." She turned around, still holding up the leaf that covered her face. "Benevolent Amaterasu…courageous Celia…I, Himiko, the ruler of Sei-an City, offer my most sincere apologies." She gave a small bow. The curtain started to rise and I felt my heart begin to race. Was she a normal person or a monster?

As Himiko sat up, she took the leaf away from her face. She turned out to be the former, and I knew what Issun's reaction would be.

Yup. One glance confirmed it. He fainted mid-jump and gently floated to the ground. I swear, I think I saw small hearts flying into the air around him. I felt the stab of jealousy once again, this time even stronger than when we had met Kaguya. I tried to ignore it, but it just refused to go away this time. I laid down on the ground with my head on my paws, trying to focus on Himiko's words and nothing else.

"As ruler, I can't stand by and watch my people suffer. I, Himiko, will not allow this evil to darken Sei-an. My prayers will not cease until we are rid of this menace! Until I have located the hateful monsters' stronghold, Oni Island!"

Issun finally woke up and jumped onto my head. I suppressed an annoyed and jealous whimper. "What's this about a monster stronghold? Are you saying that's the source of your city's problems? Can't say I've ever heard of Oni Island or whatever ya call it. And whaddya mean you're trying to locate the island? I mean, it's an island, right? It couldn't have just floated away!"

"Oni Island is elusive. It vanishes each day at sundown, shifting to a new location. No one knows where in the vast, wide ocean it will reappear. So, even if I wanted to dispatch an army there, it would never arrive."

"You don't say…still, why d'ya stay cooped up in this room all day long? I mean, what good will it do to simply pray day in and day out?"

Himiko stood up and gestured to a crystal ball (I hadn't even noticed it was behind her the entire time.) as it floated above her head.

"She tryin' to mess with us?"

"This is the treasured crystal ball." Himiko told us. "My family, the Yamatai Claim, have ruled Sei-an City forever. This crystal ball has been passed down through the generations. I can foresee the future in it. It told me you were coming. And it will tell me where in the ocean Oni Island will appear next."

"Interesting…" Issun said while Ammy barked at it. "You could find Oni Island in a jiffy with that thing!"

"So why haven't you done it before?" I questioned.

"Exposing a stronghold like Oni Island demands much holy power. But if our enemies know about my prayers, they would stop at nothing to prevent me in my mission. That is why I have locked myself away. Prayers are our only hope. But the spearhead of the enemy's forces may already be on its way."

"Heh…that's a pretty good story, queeny. But I'll go along with it. I mean, what the heck! I'd do anything for a pretty lady!" Issun chuckled as I let out an annoyed growl. He jumped off my head and started to bounce up to Himiko, but once he got close he was shocked and flew backwards to the ground. Even though I was concerned, I forced myself to stay where I was. Ammy, on the other hand, started poking him. "Ouch! That's for worrying…"

"Be careful! You cannot approach me now. By taking this crystal ball into my hand, a powerful magical barrier is erected to dispel any misfortune. You will be struck down by divine forces if you try to approach. This crystal ball ensures my safety. Even if my enemies learn of my prayers, the barrier will protect me from their attacks. Amaterasu, Celia, I ask you once again, will you hear my request? The request of all my people?"

"I guess so." I answered plainly.

"The mighty Water Dragon now threatens the peace of the oceans. I don't know why it has suddenly turned to such savagery. The Water Dragon is a sea god whose task is to maintain order. So, though it may cause harm, we invite chaos if we try to slay it. In fact, without the Water Dragon, Oni Island is beyond our reach."

"What the heck's that supposed to mean? Quit beating around the bush and just spit it out already!" Issun demanded.

"The key to reaching Oni Island lies in the Water Dragon."

"Yeah, we got that. Can you elaborate?" I requested.

"Even if the crystal ball shows me the location of the island, the island's powerful shield will prevent us from reaching it. Any attempt to break the shield will only result in our own pain. But the Water Dragon could break the shield with ease! And it could form a bridge across the sea to the island."

"So you're saying that you'll find the location of Oni Island and the Water Dragon will break the barrier around it?" Issun clarified. "Is that really the only way to get into the enemy's stronghold? But what about the Water Dragon? It's out of control, right? I seriously doubt it'll be happy to help us."

"That is why I must ask for your help, Amaterasu and Celia. Your powers could calm the Water Dragon and get it to help us. I cannot leave this palace, for my prayers require all of my energy. You are the only one who can take on this important task!"

"You gotta be kidding me! You want us to make friends with the rampaging Water Dragon?"

"It's a suicide mission." I commented.

"Well, I'd do anything for a cute babe, but…if my boss here says no, there ain't much I can do. Well, boss? We gonna help Himiko out or what?"

"We'll help." Ammy told her.

"Bummer! Well, the boss has spoke- HUH? What was that, Ammy?"

"She said we'll help!" I called from the sidelines.

"Oh, Amaterasu! You are truly benevolent! So, I entrust you with this border key. Use this key to cross the border and continue into the land beyond. It is said there is a race which controls the Water Dragon. They live in the sea beyond the border, in the dragonian domain. They may have some connection with the dragon's recent behavior. Please calm the Water Dragon and open the path to Oni Island!"

"All right, we'll do it." Issun grumbled. Ammy and I ran back to leave the palace, but before we left the room, Issun went on a short rant. "Now look at the mess you've gotten us into, Furball! Well, at least we know who's been controlling that Water Dragon! Let's go pay the dragonian domain a visit!"

"All right. So what are we supposed to be doing exactly?" Issun asked. "'Cuz I've got no clue."

"Actually, I was thinking we could gather information and do sidequests in Sei-an before going to find the dragonian domain."

"…What's a sidequest?"

I sighed. "Help people. Get money, praise, and items."

"Ooooh."

"Should we split up?" Ammy questioned.

"Sure." I gave a small nod. "You and I can go talk to people while Issun finds treasure. Bloom all the trees you find. Stay in the aristocratic quarter for now."

"Right."

"You two done?" Issun asked, jumping onto Ammy's nose.

"Yep." I answered.

"What'd you learn?"

"The dragonian domain is actually a palace under the sea." Ammy reported.

"That's all we learned and it came from a little girl. What is this world coming to?"

"Let's go talk to the Busty Babe. I wanna see her reaction to the mist disappearing!" Issun put in.

"Fine, let's go." We went to see Rao, who looked slightly shocked upon our arrival.

"Heya babe!" Issun greeted cheerfully. "I had a word with Himiko. Judging by her face, I'd say she's not a bad apple after all!"

Rao actually jumped in surprise. "You were allowed an audience with Queen Himiko? Even I haven't been able to meet with her recently. I'm certainly relieved to hear that she looks well…but I also hear the Water Dragon's tyranny has reached new heights. No trading ships can get through. The city's food is running low. And the evil besieging our fair land still looms large in the shadows."

"…Is that all she has to say?"

"Apparently. Let's just leave."

"Sweet! The cursed zone vanished along with that funky mist! Looks like the city's come back to life! Ammy, bet ya never saw a happenin' place like this 100 years ago! This must be exciting for both of you, being from the country and all. Now, I know you just want to have fun, but don't go overboard. I mean, I don't want you to forget what you're supposed to be doing."

"We won't." I rolled my eyes.

"All right! Meet back up with you in a couple hours!" Issun said and bounced off.

"…wow."

Ammy and I just stood there for a few minutes, having no freaking clue what to do next. I scanned around the city, then got an idea so obvious I nearly face/pawed for not thinking of it sooner.

"Hey, let's get some sid-" I stopped and mentally slapped myself. Ammy gave me a curious glance as I corrected myself. Rather pathetically, I should probably add. "I mean…we should go talk to people and help them out. It'll be a good way to get praise."

"Good idea." Ammy smiled and started to run around and bark at people to get their attention and hopefully some information. "Celia?"

"What?" My attention was instantly on the sun goddess in front of me.

"You zoned out there."

"Sorry." I apologized. I didn't even realize it. "I was just thinking."

Ammy nodded in understanding. "I'm guessing Issun will be taking more than a few hours to do…whatever he's doing."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked skeptically.

"I was thinking we can come back to the restaurant tonight. I think we can get a list of monsters from Masu."

"All right!" I felt the edges of my mouth turning up to make a small wolfish smile. It sounded to me like Ammy was starting on sidequests and planning everything out. Maybe this sidequest day would be easier than I expected.


	23. A day of sidequests

TWO WEEKS. AT LEAST IT'S NOT TWO MONTHS, RIGHT? *shot*

All right, I'll just shut up now.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! For those of you who don't already have one, take a map to Cookie Island! For those of you who have a map but didn't review, PUT IT BACK ON THE TABLE AND TRY AGAIN NEXT TIME. (And I'm sad to be telling this to everyone in the Shades of Insanity group. I feel betrayed. ._.)

Disclaimer: This is called fanfiction for a reason. I don't own Okami.

Chapter 20-A Day of Sidequests

Our first stop was Yama's restaurant. Of course, we encountered weirdness right when we entered it. If you've played Okami, you should know that there's a waitress walking around, waiting for customers. Well, I tackled her from behind and- I kid you not- she broke the fourth wall by turning towards where the screen would be and yelling out, "What was that for?" even though I was clearly standing in the opposite direction. Bet ya didn't expect glitches to be in the real-life version of the game, huh?

Ignoring the Nippon-logic, we went into the next room, broke all but one pot, (It just wouldn't break, okay?) and talked to Yama, the cook. Well, technically we couldn't talk to him, considering we were wolves, but you get the idea.

"Hello there, pups!" He said after turning around to face us. "You look like people who appreciate fine cuisine!"

"Umm...yeah..."

"Proper diet is the key to life! Eat well and be healthy!" Oh, great. It's health class all over again. "I'm Yama, top chef in Sei-an City! Pleased to meet ya! Whaddya think about this huge pot on this giant stove?"

"It's very pretty..." I tried to comment, then asked Ammy under my breath, "He does realize we're wolves, right?" She just gave a small shrug.

"Impressive, eh? I invested every yen to my name into 'em. I had to get 'em special in order for what I'm aiming to do. Ever heard the tale about that mushroom?"

"Um...it came out of a yellow glowing box, it fell into a random Italian plumber's head, then it made him grow?" I guessed.

"There's not a single chef in the world that doesn't know about it." I had to hold in my laughter at that. So apparently every chef in Nippon knew about Mario? Fascinating. "I'm talking about the legendary Golden Mushroom!" Okay, so I was thinking about a regular red mushroom. They have practically the same effect in Mario Kart. "I've spent decades trying to master the culinary arts, but I've yet to make a dish that truly satisfies me. If only I could get my paws on one of those Golden Mushrooms, I'm sure I could prove my true skill by making the ultimate dish!" Well, he could always go on a vacation to the Mushroom Kingdom! "I already have this huge pot and giant stove. All I need now is a Golden Mushroom! Then I'll master the art of cooking. That is my dream!"

Ammy and I just stood there and stared. Yama didn't even seem to notice the awkward silence until about 20 seconds after it had started. I rolled my eyes and pulled the golden mushroom out of our inventory.

"Could it be?" Yama gasped. "Is that...is that the legendary golden mushroom?" Oh, how I wished Ammy was holding the thing so I could let out a stream of sarcastic comments. "That sparkling gold color...that captivating shape...yes, there can be no doubt! Where in the world did you find it, pups?"

"A random person on the road gave it to us." Ammy answered, only to be ignored by Yama. Then again, I guess he couldn't understand us in the first place, so I couldn't really hold it against the guy.

"Oh, never mind that...with that mushroom I could fulfill my dream...my dream to master the art of cooking!" Yes, I think we got that part already. "Please, pups, please! I must have that mushroom! What could you two dogs do with it, anyways?"

"Sell it on e-bay?" I tried, my voice muffled pretty badly by the object I was holding.

"What's e-bay?" Ammy asked me.

"Erm...kinda hard to explain...but you use it to sell stuff." I answered, setting the mushroom on the ground so that I could talk properly. Yama snatched it up instantly.

"Really? Oh, thank you! You're such good pups!" The chef danced for joy, making himself look like a complete idiot. Not to mention he technically stole it from us. "With this golden mushroom, I will attempt to make the ultimate dish! My long-cherished dream will finally be fulfilled!"

Another random silence ensued. Ammy barked to get Yama's attention, and thankfully, it worked.

"Huh? Oh, yes...the ultimate dish! I was so overwhelmed by emotion when the legendary Golden Mushroom came into my paws...not a day has passed without my preparing this huge pot and-"

"Get on with it already!" I growled irritably. Even though Tama didn't speak wolf, the angry bark got my message across just fine.

"Erm...right...behold, Yama's super deluxe fan the flames dance!" I wouldn't even call what he did a dance, really. He punched the air, did some kicks, fanned the stove aaand...

...nothing happened. I was about to walk over to the nearest wall and start banging my head against it, but a giant fireball came out of nowhere and lit a fire.

And then we were suddenly in the area where we get new brush techniques with Moegami flying in front of us! But hey, new brush technique. I wasn't going to question it.

"Ah, Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all...and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon...my power had diminished while you were away. But that man's zeal and your own pure hearts have restored my power. I have harnessed his fervent energy to bestow upon you both a new power. Unleash your wrath in a mighty fireburst!"

Apparently that short speech was all the time Yama needed to finish making the best dish ever, considering right when we came back the food practically fell from the sky.

"I did it!" Oh, great. The Nippon version of Dora has been discovered. "My long-cherished dream, the ultimate dish, is ready! I give you...rice stew eruption!" Yama yelled the last part so loud, I think I went temporarily deaf. He said something else, but I honestly couldn't hear it. All I know is we got 50 praise and some really tasty food.

After I had regained my hearing, Ammy explained to me how to use inferno. My first victim? The unbreakable pot! The reward for vanquishing the enemy was two burnt oranges. We acted like stupid, innocent wolves and rolled them over to Tama with cute looks on our faces before making a run for it. Yes, it was stupid and immature, but hey, it worked.

"All right, who to talk to next?" Ammy questioned as we padded through the town, acting like a couple of tourists. Well, except we were window browsing for problems to fix, but still...

"Let's try the old man over there." I pointed with my muzzle to a wrinkly old dude who was wearing pink. And he had a green lei thing around his neck. And there was a tree on his head...

Well, he looked weird to say the least. But, hey, we were trying to help everyone we could, so appearances aside, we had to talk to him.

"Oh, hello, pups! Just look! The air in Sei-an City is crystal clear today! What a relief after that accursed mist had covered the city. That no-good mist withered all the trees I so lovingly tended to. But it's gone now, as you can plainly see. Sei-an City looks like her old self once more!"

"I'm surprised he hasn't introduced himself yet." I commented.

"He looks like Mr. Flower, judging by all the other old men we've run into." Ammy said.

"Looks more like a Mr. Blossom to me."

"Care to take a bet on that?"

"You're on."

And now you have glimpsed what goes on in the conversations I don't have the time or memory to write down- lots and lots of bet making. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

"The mist had hindered my effects. But now I can do the Gura Shuffle and make the cherry blossoms bloom!"

"Rip-off of the Konahana Shuffle?"

"Most likely."

"I learned it from a certain flower dance master, you know."

"Yep. Konahana Shuffle rip-off."

"Would you like to see the Gura Shuffle, poochies? Do not doubt my resolve. I shall dance when the time has come. But the city's wounds are deep. If I did the Gura Shuffle now, I doubt my strength would suffice."

"Aww, I wanted to see a breakdancing old dude again." I complained.

"I mean, just look at the great cherry blossoms here on my roof. That is the sacred protector of Sei-an City, but...as you can clearly see, it has been possessed. It will take considerable power to make such trees bloom. I'm overwhelmed by the sheer number of them in the city. So, I shall save my dance till all the normal trees bloom. That was I can borrow the power of the profusely blooming blossoms! Just one more to go!"

My jaw dropped. "One more? Seriously, how? We didn't bloom any trees on the way here."

"Issun?" Ammy suggested.

"...I'd hug that little poncle if it weren't for the fact that I'm currently a wolf and I might accidentally crush him." I paused. "So, where's the last tree?" Ammy gave me a smile and bloomed the tree on Mr. Blossom's head. How had she known to do that? Beats me. But hey, twenty praise will shut me up.

"At last! The time has come!" Mr. Blossom said in a serious tone. Mr. Orange, anyone? "Though few in number, the trees that have bloomed are lending me their power! Now I can drive away the evil spirits with my dance. I shall make those cursed cherry blossoms bloom! Sorry to keep you waiting, pooch! At last you shall witness my Gura Shuffle! Come along if you wish to see me dance! Are you ready? I give you...the Gura Shuffle!"

"You ready?" Ammy asked me, getting ready to run.

"Are you ready?" I shot back with a good-natured smirk.

Mr. Blossom started running and we were off. Our first stop was the nearest un-bloomed tree. The old dude did his weird little dance, (It wasn't worthy to be called a rip-off of the Konahana Shuffle.) causing the purple mist around the tree to disappear. Of course, when I tried blooming it, I somehow used galestorm instead. Luckily for me, Ammy bloomed it a split-second later, saving me some embarrassment. Mr. Blossom then went down some steps to the canal.

"What's he doing?" I questioned. "It's a dead en-" My sentence was cut short by him leaping across the water and over the wall to the other side.

"No way." Ammy shared my shock. We both shook it off and leaped after our senior citizen. Heck, our double jump wasn't enough to clear the distance and we ended up having to use a lily pad to get over the wall.

"Old people shouldn't be able to jump like that!" I yelled once my paws hit solid ground. But this was far from over. Said old person went to the main path and ran around the brazier for no apparent reason before coming to the next tree. Another stupid dance and bloomed tree later, we were once again on the move.

We went back the way we came from, this time taking a right and a left to get to the tree. Hoy-ya! Ha! Ho! Hoy! Circle. Bloom. Happy face. Spin. Hee! And another tree down.

"Again, old men shouldn't be doing this!" I complained as we all went flying over the water. On the bright side, we all made it over in one jump. (Yes, I consider a double jump only one jump. Don't judge me.)

I also made strange noises along with the crazy old man. Again, don't judge me. It was fun, okay? And at least it passed four seconds of weirdness...until we came to another dead end.

"Seriously, where is the logic in this?"

"Maybe old people need exercise too?"

"...winning answer, Ammy."

A bit more running took us to the un-bloomed tree by a small pond of water. Should I also mention that we had already passed that same tree before but didn't bloom it? _WHY?_

I didn't voice my question, though, so I just sat in silence as we repeated what had already been done four times before. I mean, c'mon, this was pretty much just a wash, rinse, repeat kind of thing until we got all of the trees.

"All right, how the heck did he make that jump?" I demanded when we had gone from the last bloomed tree to a random deck next to Yama's restaurant.

"I think the real question is, how did he make _that_ jump?" Ammy corrected, pointing with her tail to Mr. Blossom, who had already made _another_ insane leap, this time into his front yard.

"All right, it's almost over. Let's just catch up to our old guy before he finishes his last dance." And that was exactly what we did. Which was good, because the daredevil senior was starting to really disturb me. (I mean, just think about it. How many 90-year-olds do you know that can do those types of things? Yeah, not many.)

"Phew...it worked! It worked! I got a bit out of control there." A little? "Frankly, I wasn't sure I could do it." Ladies and gentlemen, the anti-Dora of Nippon! "But when I thought about how happy the people of this city would be, I knew I had to make these trees bloom one way or another! I care not whether it was my dance or the power of the gods that made them bloom. As long as the recovery of our cherry blossoms delight the people, I have no complains!" And with twenty more praise for us, I was also a happy camper!

"Where to next, captain?" I asked Ammy.

"You do realize that was only twenty praise, right?" Ammy pointed out, but I could clearly see her smiling.

"I am in a rare good mood. Don't ruin it."

"All right. Well, I was thinking we should go talk to those people standing at the ports. Something tells me they need help."

"All righty! Let's go!" Ammy stared at me. "...what? The cherry blossoms perked me up, okay?" She just rolled her eyes and we made our way to the nearest fairy port, where the aspiring carpenter was apparently already there. Long story short, he needed to get to his boss and apparently only a miracle could get him there. Lucky for him, two wolves with a couple of paintbrushes for tails are considered just that in Nippon. A simple circle was painted and a lily pad appeared on the water. Dont'cha just love brush techniques?

"All right, let's go!" Amy and I yelled at the same time. She sat in front of the carpenter to see where we were headed while I sat behind and used galestorm.

"The whirlpools are gone! Go!" She shouted and I didn't need to be told twice. I made a spiral with my tail, a huge gust of wind blowing us into the main channel a second later. "Whirlpool to the left!" I waved my tail to the left, making our lily pad go right. But everything started spinning and I shut my eyes tightly as we all yelled in surprise.

"I thought you said it was on the left!" I yelled.

"My left, not yours!" Ammy growled in exasperation.

"Well, you could've clarified!" I clenched my teeth as I just used galestorm again.

"Stop!"

"What?" I yelped in confusion, then we went straight into another swirly of fun! "How...do you stop a...moving lily pad?" I felt slightly sick at that point.

"Galestorm, maybe?"

All right, she had a point there. I forced myself to keep quiet while I just kept using galestorm until we got to our destination. (Luckily, we didn't run into any more whirlpools.) The carpenter made a little speech about going to see his boss and hoping he wouldn't be angry for not helping... I'll admit, it led to one of those cliché 'I totally connect with that and it's making me feel bad' moments. Ammy was really the leader of the group. Issun was the voice.)

..._Then what am I?_ I shook my head to try to get rid of the uselessness I felt. It still pricked at the back of my mind, but I could ignore it.

"Hey, Ammy?" I said slowly. My friend gave me a curious look. "Sorry about that. I just kinda blew up on you there..."

"No problem. Besides, I lost my cool, too." She gave me a small smile, which I gladly returned. One thing I like about Ammy- we can never really be mad at each other for long. "This time I'll help out. We'll get there faster."

"All right! ...Now where the heck is East street?

"Well, that was interesting." Ammy commented as we were once again walking around the city.

"Everyone's a critic." I complained. "I mean, come on! He asked to go to the carpenter's house! You kinda make the assumption that he means Naguri!"

"Well, you know what they say about assumptions..."

"Oh, don't even go there."

Ammy and I were pulled out of our strange conversation when a random person in a white kimono walked up to us. I guess we were getting famous or something. "My father! He hasn't been able to wake up! I thought it was the mist making him ill. Please help! All I need is medicine. Then I could make him well. But I don't have enough money to buy something like that...how frustrating! It's available nearby, but I can't get any!"

"Backtracking?"

"Backtracking."

After some backtracking-

I dropped the herbal medicine in Blossom's hand and gave her a small smile...okay, granted, a wolf trying to smile is probably more scary than cheerful to a human, but it's the thought that counts! And besides, she was too busy staring at the medicine in her hand. "I-I-I don't believe it! Is this what I think it is, doggies? How did two dogs manage to get hold of something so expensive?"

"Well, we've actually got 300,000 yen, give or take." I told her even though she couldn't understand. But hey, on the bright side, the odds of me and Ammy ever getting robbed were pretty slim!

"Do you really want me to have this?" Blossom asked, still looking at the medicine in awe like she was holding a celestial brush or something. "I don't believe it! You must have been sent by the gods, doggies."

"Send by the gods? Pfft, we _are_ the gods! Well, one of us, that is." I glanced over at Ammy, who was laughing softly at the irony.

"Thank you! Thank you! Now I can make Pop better at last!" She ran inside the house, me and Ammy trailing behind. "Pop...is the medicine working? Oh, please let it work! I just want you to wake up, that's all. I want to hear your voice again!"

The sick person started gasping and sputtering before yelling out, "Huh? What?" And going unconscious again.

"Oh! What am I going to do? It's my father...he's lost consciousness again. Maybe the gods are coming for him this time."

"Not on my watch!" I have absolutely no idea why I tackled him, but I did. And strangely enough, my horrible plan was effective.

"Huh?" Blossom's dad yelled out as he jumped to his feet. "How could you do that to a sick old man? Wait...oh, that smell... I cannot resist! The cherry blossoms of Sei-an City must be in full bloom! Time to eat, drink, and be merry! Oh, happy day!" I swear, I think I saw hearts floating out of him...yup, that's not weird at all.

"Oh, yes...I almost forgot! My father has another illness which cannot be cured. He adores the flower-viewing festival. But he gets too excited and hurts his back every year. I made him promise not to go, but the flower fever struck again!"

"...can we please leave before this gets any weirder?"

"Yes."

"Heeeeeey, Fluffy!" Issun yelled as he bounced onto my head. "So, what'd you two do while I was gone?"

"A bunch of crap that you probably wouldn't care to hear about." I answered. "Although we _did _collect enough praise to upgrade our solar energy and purse. What'd you do?"

"Well,"

I cut him off. "On second thought, do we even want to know?"

"I just found some treasure and watched Benkei fish to pass the time!"

"Oh."

"What's up there?" Ammy asked randomly, looking up at the sky.

"Well, that would be called the sun. Although I find it slightly concerning that you don't know what that is considering you're the goddess of it."

"I'm not referring to the sun! Look!" I followed her gaze and gasped when I saw something floating in the sky. It was like a giant building suspended in the air.

"Any bright ideas on how to get up there?" Issun questioned. In response, Ammy waved her tail, making a stream of water and filling up a small pool. We both rushed towards the middle, where I used the power stream to take us up to where we wanted to go.

I just wished we had an easy button. That would've added quite a bit of humor to the situation.

Anyways, we eventually got to the top and hopped onto the platform in front of us. After a short walkway, we came to the door leading inside...and a person wearing clothes that suspiciously looked like Waka's except with a different color scheme. And a weird mask.

"Hm?" The guard looked shocked to see us. "Amaterasu? Celia?"

"Huh? How'd ya know Ammy and Silver's names?" Issun questioned suspiciously. I just sat down, but narrowed my eyes at the guard. I think he noticed the unfriendly vibe radiating off of us.

"Oh! That little bouncing guy's with you, too! Well, Captain Waka did say you three were inseparable!"

"Anyone else find it ironic that we were all split up less than five minutes ago?"

"Who you calling little? Wait a sec...did you just say Captain Waka? That imbecile's a captain?"

"What is this world coming to?"

The guard started talking again. "We work under Captain Waka, and he reports directly to Queen Himiko. We're the Tao Master Special Investigation Troop. But you can call us the Tao Troopers for short!"

"Tao Troopers? I don't know if I like the sound of that..." Issun trailed.

"This is our headquarters." The guard explained. "But Captain Waka is out on a special mission right now. He told me about you three before he left. And he said you could inspect our headquarters if you wanted."

"Bah...I know that half-baked prophet was up to something." Issun mumbled. "He knew we were coming. I bet the place is just crawling with traps! Keep your eyes peeled, you two!"

"Calm down, Issun. Why would Waka set traps for us?" Ammy said as she went around the pathway instead of going inside.

"Don't open that treasure chest!" Issun freaked when Ammy was about to tackle it. She backed away and powerslashed it instead, a horse statue falling out.

"Can I get it now?"

I heard Issun mumble some things I'd rather not repeat while Ammy gave him an 'I win' look. There were no more treasure chests outside, so we just went in.

The interior looked...interesting, to say the least. There were a bunch of pillars with glowing blue runes on them. To the left there were some really high tech computers, to the right there were stone statues of people with wings on their heads, and at the very back there was a desk with a hologram computer. And a huge stained-glass picture of three wing-heads.

"Hey, look at that!" Issun said, bouncing off to the right. "Now that's an impressive statue! ...wait. I take it back... I don't wanna compliment that guy's stuff." Ammy just rolled her eyes and went to talk to the only Tao Trooper in the building. And due to the video game atmosphere of Nippon, he just started talking to us.

"Oh, this is terrible, just horrible!"

"Hey, what's wrong, chief?" Issun asked.

"Listen to this...I've always been fascinated by Captain Waka." I backed away a few steps.

"Um, Ammy? Do you think you can use a weird goddess power or something to find out if this dude is gay or straight?" I felt Ammy giving me a disapproving look, but so what? I swear, I could see hearts flying from him! When referring to Waka! How can anyone say that doesn't just shout out 'I'm gay!'

"That's why I trained so hard to join the Tao Troopers!" He continued. "But I'm still considered a new recruit!"

"You actually care about that half-baked prophet? Bah! That _is_ troublesome!"

"Gay~"

"Celia?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." I'm sure many long minutes of silence would have ensued from that weird moment had the Tao Trooper not spoken up.

"No, no, that's not what I meant! The terrible part came after I joined! I'd only been in the Tao Troopers a few days when I lost my Tao Mask! Each member only gets one!"

"Tao mask? Oh, you mean that thing the other guy was wearing over his eyes? What's the big deal about that?"

I got it! The masks were imported from Termina and when someone puts on a Tao mask they become a Tao Trooper!

...

Come on. It was a creative theory.

"It is a big deal! The captain's going to skin me alive if I don't find it!"

"Heh...that half-baked prophet sure has some weird hang-ups." Issun commented.

"I went out for a walk to show off my new mask to everyone. That's when this strange man bumped into me. He must have stolen it right then!"

"How could you not notice someone taking a mask right off your face?"

"I have to agree with him on this one. _How?"_

"Say...would you fellows mind searching around the city for it?" Abe asked in a helpful voice. "I can't leave my post, and there's no one else I can ask! You must help me! Please! If you find it, I'll tell you a secret about Captain Waka!"

"All right, if we find your mask, we'll bring it back to ya...mostly to hear the secret..." Issun told him, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Come on, you two." Ammy turned around towards the exit. "I think we've stalled going to North Ryoshima Coast long enough." She looked at me. "Care to race?"

"Um, I think I learned my lesson from the last time we did that." I heard Ammy give a small laugh, then we were off.


	24. Conflict, dolphins, and towers

Okay, this update is a day late. Sue me. I forgot to bring my usb drive thing to school and I forgot to upload it after I got home. .' On the bright side, I typed up quite a few chapters over the weekend. It ended up being about 25k words. Just on Friday and Saturday alone. I think I'm gonna take a break from OACA for a while and just write some FAF this weekend. Maybe. (Probably not. I'm too excited to start writing for Kamui. 8D)

Thanks to Tundra Phoenix, Kitty, (THANK YOU, KITTY, FOR BEING THE ONLY ONE IN THE SHADES OF INSANITY GROUP TO REVIEW. I'm giving Karen and Senom a rant later... -.-) the anonymous reviewer, Saphira, Frost, Rainbow Guppy, Wingy, Noral, Shadow, and NeonGreenSheep. You people are all awesome. WHICH IS WHY I INSTALLED A WATER PARK ON COOKIE ISLAND! GO HAVE FUN, GUYS! 8D

Disclaimer: Celia: If Desi owned Okami, I'm sure there'd already be another game.

Chapter 21-Conflict, dolphins, and freaking huge towers

"Now then, where's this dragonian domain?" Issun asked when we arrived at North Ryoshima Coast. "Sounds like something that might be under the sea. But I'd rather not have to get wet if I could help it. And it's not 'cuz I'm afraid of that pesky Water Dragon!" He added quickly. "It's just you swim so slow that you practically put me to sleep!"

"Yep, that didn't seem suspicious at all, Issun. In fact, I still think that you don't want to go into the sea only because of your strong dislike towards water."

"Oh, shut it." He grumbled, causing me to smirk in victory.

Of course, my good mood was short-lived due to everyone's favorite character appearing on scene. And, dang it, right after we had left the Tao Headquarters.

"Bonjour Amaterasu and Celia! I trust you enjoyed your 'little' adventure through that hole? The city's air has sure cleared up thanks to you two."

_Although a little warning about my freaking death would have been nice, thank you._ I thought bitterly, but didn't say the words out loud, just to be safe. After all, Issun was a conspiracy theory making machine. Practically anything will make his brain go into overdrive, especially when it concerns the fruitcake.

"Just ignore him and maybe he'll go away." The poncle said in frustration.

"I doubt that will work." Ammy commented.

"Life? Why must you torture us so?" I yelled into the sky.

"Why so grumpy today?"

"Because you showed up." I think I actually threw Waka off there.

"You just got told!" Issun laughed. "Nice, Silver!"

"Thank you." I smiled.

Waka just gave an awkward cough before continuing. "Didn't you notice the view?"

"Not really, your face is ruining it." I'm pretty sure I earned a small glare from him that time. Celia-2 Waka-0

Payback is sweet.

"This used to be one big cursed zone out here. But yours truly pulled off one of those great divine interventions!"

"Aww, it was my turn!" Issun complained.

"Waka can't have a turn?" Ammy questioned.

"No!" Issun and I yelled at the same time.

"Well, I really wanted to wait for you three." Waka said. I didn't believe a word of it. "But I couldn't stand leaving the sea in such a cursed state. Ah…the sea off Ryoshima Coast is back to its beautiful self. Is this what they mean by prettier than a picture, my little friend?"

"What's that supposed to mean, pretty boy?"

"Oh, just a little something I overheard somewhere. So, my little bouncing friend, you're a wandering artist, no? I want to see how beautiful your paintings are. Just one would be fine. Pretty please?"

"Huh? My art's none of your business!" Issun yelled defensively. "Why should I show you anyway?"

"Issun? Are you okay?" I asked.

"You really are in a bad mood today." Waka scoffed. "You're not one of those imposters who claims to be an artist, but could not paint a picture if his life depended on it, are you?"

"What?" Issun gasped, his tone of voice going high in panic.

"What the heck, Waka?" I growled. "What gives you of all people the right to accuse him of something like that?" A split second later I wondered why I had just snapped like that, but I ignored the thoughts.

"Oh, nothing." Waka waved his hand in dismissal. "It is just something some old man mentioned. His grandson, who was also his apprentice, ran away from home and he took the old man's painting of a wood sprite with him. Do you think he might claim to have painted that masterpiece? I mean, there are so many unscrupulous people out there. Sometimes it is hard to spot an imposter in the wide world of art. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" I had to refrain myself from biting Waka's head off when he gave us all a smirk.

"I don't know what the heck you're talking about! Now make like a tree and leave!" Issun yelled furiously. "Or you can stick around if you'd rather get sliced and diced!"

"The second option sounds interesting." I commented, sitting down and putting my tail in front of myself as a slight threat.

"Excusez-moi! You both do not have to get so hot under the collar!"

"I'm a wild wolf. I don't have any collars."

"Hmm…it would appear I have struck a raw nerve. Well, since I have no prophecies or anything for you this time, I suppose I'll just be on my merry way. Au revoir, baby!" And he typically left in sparkles. Good freaking riddance.

"Issun…" Ammy said softly. "Did you steal that painting of Sakuya from Ishaku?"

I spun around to face her. "Oh, so now you're accusing Issun, too? Jeez, Ammy, I expect this type of thing from Waka, but not you!"

Ammy backed up a little. The concern was clear in her eyes. "Celia, think about it. What he's saying makes sense." Her voice was still gentle.

"Just because Issun happens to have a picture of Sakuya doesn't mean he stole it! You're probably just on Waka's side because you have a crush on him or something!" Ammy's expression grew shocked and she opened her mouth to speak, but I stopped her. "And the look on your face tells me I'm not far off from the truth." Actually, I had just made an accusation supported by stuff I had seen or read on the internet, but it surprised me when Ammy broke eye contact for a second in slight embarrassment. All right, my blind assumption was correct.

"Maybe I am. But listen to yourself, Celia. You're doing the exact same." I held my friend's gaze, my eyes narrowed.

And then I suddenly turned tail and ran. I knew Ammy was right. The facts were all pointing to what Waka had implied. But still, my mind didn't want to believe it. Sure, it was something small, but if Issun was lying about one thing, who knew what other secrets he was keeping?

_It's not like you're totally truthful with your friends, either, _I reminded myself. I clenched my teeth and just kept running until I came to a pile of rubble that I ducked behind. (Pathetic hiding spot, I know.) _What about back in the Agata Forest? You flat out said you didn't know anything about Orochi and your friends believed you._ I shut my eyes tightly. All the stress was getting to me, that was all…

"Silver?" My eyes flew open when I heard Issun's voice. I had completely forgotten he was on my head… a wave of embarrassment surged through me as I realized that he had witnessed that entire argument. "Are you okay?" He asked in a concerned tone. "You just kinda…"

"I'm fine." I answered, my tone flat. "Issun…did you really paint that picture? Or did you steal it?"

Issun seemed taken aback. "Um…" He was quiet for a while, and I just stood up.

"Never mind. It doesn't matter." My mind felt numb with confusion and betrayal. Issun lied. I lie. Everyone in the freaking universe lies. Someone's word wasn't really worth anything. I didn't know who I could trust anymore.

"Celia!" Ammy's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "You ran so fast you weren't trapped by a fight barrier! Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." I said irritably, trying not to growl. Just another lie. "Come on. Let's get going." Ammy stayed where she was while I walked ahead. "I can feel you staring at me! Now do you want to find a dragonian palace or not?" Ammy sighed but followed without any more comments. I felt the unease and tension in the air. I'm sure the others did, too. _Well, it's Waka's fault for starting it in the first place._

We went across a bridge and down to the beach without pausing to do anything else. No stopping by the merchant, no collecting treasure, no feeding dogs, no blooming clovers. Once we were on the beach, we spotted some kids bullying a full grown man. It was pretty pathetic.

"Hey, Urashima! So you got taken by that Porca guy, right? And he took you to a castle at the bottom of the sea? If that's true, where's that Porca now, huh?"

"Yeah, where is he now?"

"Yeah, where is he?"

"What're they talking about?" Issun wondered aloud.

"It ain't Porca. It's Orca!" The man, Urashima, I assumed, yelled. "He's an emissary of the Dragon Palace. And he only comes for people worthy of goin' there."

"Yeah, right! Didn't your mom teach you not to tell lies?" Given the previous events, the irony of that amazed me. "Let's get him!"

"Yeah!"

"Get him!"

And thus, the little kids continued to hit the full grown man with some sticks…you know, this sounds even more pathetic that it looked, and that's saying a lot.

"Hey, whaddya think you're doing?" Issun questioned. "Only cowards gang up on people like that!"

"Hey! Who's that? Well, good timing. I'm bored of playing with him now. Come on! Let's go play somewhere else!"

"Yeah!"

"Let's go play!"

"Whaddya think those little brats were talking about, you two? What did they mean by a castle at the bottom of the sea?" I wasn't in the mood to add my input.

"The Dragonian Palace, maybe?" Ammy suggested. Great, she was taking my job. At this rate, I'd be able to disappear off the face of the earth and absolutely no one would notice! Ammy also took the liberty of tackling Urashima to wake him up.

Said fat dude with a bucket for clothing stood up and stared at us for a second. "Hm? I musta dozed off…I reckon I do that a lot on the beach."

"Sounds a lot like Susano." Ammy commented.

I will say this again: Stealing. My. Job.

"I dunno who y'all are, but I sure 'preciate your wakin' me up. When I ain't got the strength to go home, sometimes I nap here."

"You were sleeping?" Issun yelled in disbelief. "Bah! You really had us worried, hunched over like that! You're not sick or injured, are ya?"

"No, sir! I'm fit as a fiddle, I am! Just takin' a nap on the beach is all."

"While getting harassed by children."

"Oh…well, that's a relief. Anyway…what was that about a castle at the bottom of the sea? Would you mind filling us in?" Issun requested. I swear, that was the most polite I had ever heard him.

"No one ever believes me 'bout that. There's a land under the sea in Ryoshima. The Dragonians and sea god live there in the Dragon Palace. The Dragon Palace is an amazin' place…real purdy. I haven't been there in a dog's age, though."

"Dragon Palace? Land of the Dragonians? They're the ones controlling the Water Dragon! Himiko said so! So just how does one get down to that place, bucket boy? How could a chubby…er, I mean, big-boned lad like you elude that Water Dragon and make it all the way down to the bottom of the sea?"

"The Water Dragon was much nicer in those days." Urashima explained to us. "But ya can't just choose to go to the Dragon Palace, see. Only worthy people can go. If you're worthy, an emissary called Orca comes to get ya."

"So this Oraca dude is an emissary from the Dragon Palace?" Issun asked for clarification…not like that's anything new. "And just how do you get to meet this guy, anyway?"

"Now that's one question that ain't so easy to answer. Y'all see that pier over yander?"

"You mean the one 15 yards away?" Ammy asked.

"That pier's where I met Orca. I was lookin' out to the sea, when he came with the mornin' sun. Orca only comes if you're worthy of the Dragon Palace, I reckon…"

"Well, I think Furball and Fluffy here are worthy. Whaddya you two say?"

"Let's go meet some dragonians!" Ammy barked enthusiastically. I have to admit, the combination of both my job being done right in front of me and the excited tone of my friend finally cheered me up. (Well, more of the latter. The former just made me determined to ditch my depression already.)

They both looked at me expectantly. "I've got a strange feeling that Orca isn't going to be a whale. So, who's in the mood to meet a misnamed sea creature?"

So, long story short, we went to the pier over yonder, used sunrise, and came face-to-face with a purple and blue dolphin with a bucket/saddle/insert word of choice here on his back.

"Why's this big fish look so happy? It's kinda creepin' me out…"

"And yet you don't notice Ammy wagging her tail madly?"

"Aaah!" A voice interrupted the scene. Of course, it was none other than Urashima. "Orca! Orca! It's you!" He ran up next to us, standing on the very edge of the dock. "It's been a dog's age! I stopped countin' the years! Did you come to take me back to the Dragon Palace?" He jumped into the air excitedly, only to be hit by Orca's tail into the water.

"…I'm assuming a simple 'no' wouldn't have sufficed…"

"Orca?" Issun seemed surprised. "This is that emissary or whatever of the dragonians?"

Of course, the dolphin just had to jump into the air and be a show-off before actually speaking. "At last, ones worthy of visiting the Dragon Palace. Hop on! I'll take you to the Dragon Palace!"

"Hear that, you two?" Issun asked, a little too excited if you ask me.

"I'm second to none when it comes to swimming! Even that Water Dragon's no match for me!"

"You heard 'im! What're we gonna do, you two?" Ammy was already busy trying to get onto Orca's back. Unfortunately, she slipped and fell back to the dock. "Well, I guess you already made up your mind!" I jumped onto Orca's back, somehow actually landing on the bucket/saddle/whatever on my first try. Ammy joined me a second later. "All right, Orca! Onto the Dragon Palace!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that yet." Orca told us.

"Huh?"

"You've gotta be kidding me!" I grumbled.

"You must complete the final ordeal decreed by Otohime. Only then will you be worthy of visiting the Dragon Palace.

"Hey, Orca. Is this Otohime chick your boss or something? She's got a lotta nerve letting the Water Dragon run amok!" Issun ranted. "Listen, Orca, we wanna ride down to the Dragon palace. So let's hear about that ordeal you were talking about!"

"The enterance to the Dragon Palace is a whirlpool, but it's hidden right now to keep out the evil beings that plague this area." Orca explained. "You must find the whirlpool amid this vast sea. That is the ordeal decreed by Otohime."

"Sounds like a piece of cake! I mean, this sea's packed with places beggin' to be explored. We'll just have to check 'em out till we find that whirlpool! Well, what're we waiting for? Full speed ahead, fish breath!"

And so we started sailing! Of course, being a video game, it wasn't long before the helping character had to point stuff out!

"Where's that meowing coming from?" Issun wondered. Yes, if you couldn't figure this out, a whole bunch of meows were echoing down to us. "Hmm…I think it's coming from that tower."

"What to-" And then I spotted it. "Kazegami, that is one huge freaking tower."

"It's kinda creepy, but I say we go check it out!"

"All right, let's go." Ammy said, but I stopped her.

"I can go see what's at the top. You go explore the other islands." I told her.

"Are you sure?" She seemed hesitant, which made me kind of mad. My video game logic told me this was where we needed to go…and I know this sounds selfish, but I wanted to do something important by myself for a change. Ammy saw the look in my eyes and nodded. I gave her a grateful smile before jumping onto the island.

"Um, Silver?" Issun asked while I was feeding some cats.

"Yeah?"

"How are we gonna get to the top of that thing?"

"No clue. I'm making all this up as I go along."

"This will be fun."

(Time skip: Great, now she's using me because the three asterisks stopped working. I get to learn how Line Break felt in ALBN. -.-)

"Oookay, that was a lotta fangs!" I commented once our fight with the weird flame blade thingy was over. Yes, I call it a weird flame blade thingy. Don't judge me.

"Well, it seems like the meowing is coming from all the way on the top of the tower…see any doors?"

"No, but those paw prints look suspicious."

"Paw prints? That's the sign of Kabegami, the goddess of walls! So that must mean…"

My brain put all the pieces together quickly. It did not like the picture it was coming up with. "All right, who likes to stall by feeding some cats?" I ran around frantically, feeding all the cats and blooming any clovers I found. But, unfortunately, that didn't last long.

"Fine. I'll climg the dang tower." I grumbled, sensing Issun's impatience practically radiating off of him in waves.

185 jumps later- (Yes, I counted.)

"Wow. Nice view."

"What view? The clouds are blocking it."

"Oh…right…"

I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but smirk at Issun's stupidity. We passed a mermaid spring (I seriously wonder how that things works on top of a tower that high.) and opened a treasure chest (With a mermaid con inside. Something told me that whatever reason Clover had for putting it there, it was something that could be very frustrating to some gamers.) before climbing up some stairs. We got an incense burner on the next level before going up some _more_ stars (Yay! More climbing! Fun! And I'm clearly not using any sarcasm whatsoever!) before going around the area and finding a cat. Yes, one lonely cat. Great reward!

"Silver, look. There's a kitty cat over there." Issun had to point out.

"Yeah! And there's a statue of a cat behind us, and we're standing on a freakishly tall tower!" I said with mock enthusiasm. Issun ignored the reply, but I could tell he had heard it, which was enough for me.

"Wonder what it's doing all alone up here? It couldn't have climbed all the way up by itself, could it? Surely there couldn't be anything to eat all the way up here."

Lightbult-over-head moment. I slowly walked up to the cat, hoping that a random wolf approaching wouldn't scare him. Luckily, he seemed fine.

"Here, kitty." I mumbled. "Nice kitty. I'm just gonna give you some food…" The cat stared at me with huge amber eyes. I pulled out a fish feedbag and set it in front of him, and he began eating almost instantly. "You are so lucky. That was the last one." I made q mental note to buy a few more feedbags later. After it was done, the cat meowed once before curling up and going to sleep

"Such gratitude." I commented sarcastically.

"It's a cat. What'd you expect? At least it stopped meowing."

"Thank the gods. I think it was going to drive me crazy."

The sky suddenly darkened and a twinkling light started shining on us. Well, I figured out what the mermaid spring was for!

"Hm? A constellation? Here?"

"Considering most of them have been found inside buildings or other places with a ceiling, I'll admit, it's weird." An annoyed look came onto my face when I brought my gaze to the sky. "Of course, a house constellation for the awkward brush god location." It really _did_ look like a house. A pentagon with a random line pointing upwards. Draw that and try to tell me it doesn't look like a first grader's representation of their home. And, of course, it took five tries to complete the easiest constellation ever after Yomigami. Please don't comment.

The house turned out to be just a wall. Although there _was_ a cat standing on the wall, totally defying gravity. (Then again, after climbing all of Catcall Tower, I guess I shouldn't be talking.) She jumped off the wall and down to the ground, meowing as she took a sudden interest of something. She jumped over me, causing me to duck, but when I opened my eyes, I felt the absence of something, or rather, someone, on my head.

I turned around to the sight of a brush god using a poncle as a cat toy. I'll admit, it was pretty comical.

"Mind if I try?" I asked with a smirk on my face. The cat turned around, with Issun in her mouth, and gave a muffled meow of consent.

"Don't you dare, Fluffy!" My friend yelled, only serving to make my smirk grow. The cat tossed Issun into the air and I ran after him, playing soccer with a god as my partner and a poncle as the ball.

It was fun.

But eventually that had to end. Kabegami was sitting on her wall, turning her head towards me. I sat patiently in front of her, waiting for my next brush technique.

And Issun was lying unconscious on the ground between us. He made it very difficult not to laugh.

Ah…Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…" I'll have to admit, it was weird being addressed without Ammy by my side. "The swirling whirlpool of evil below has driven me to this height, from this perch, I observe the world below and its descent. If my power is needed once again, I, Kabegami, god of walls, shall gladly offer a bridge of hope to the realm below!" Then she turned into a glowing orb, wall and all, and flew into me. Oh, and Issun had somehow ended up on my head again.

Said poncle was ticked off at the moment. "Hey! I'm not your personal toy to be played with like that!"

A minute of awkward silence ensued when Issun realized what was wrong about that sentence.

"…topic change, please?" I requested.

"Definitely." Issun quickly agreed. "That must've been Kabegami, one of the thirteen brush gods!"

"Very good, Issun! Any other obvious things that you would like to point out?"

"…I liked it better when you were quiet."

"And I would love it if you'd just shut up. But unfortunately, we both know that will never happen."

"All right, fine then. I won't talk."

"I'd like to see how long this lasts." I commented, turning around to climb back down the tower. Although I noticed that the cat statue was glowing. I just decided to make a line with my tail from the statue to the very top of the tower. Like I expected, a yellow path of pawprints appeared. Brush techniques aren't difficult to figure out at all. About thirty seconds later, I discovered a treasure chest with a sun fragment.

"One down, two to go. Any comment?" I tried, knowing Issun wouldn't last forever. But my question was met with silence. "All right then. Let's just leave." I started back, but then stopped, turning around. An idea was forming in my mind, and I liked it very much.

I turned around completely, preparing myself for what I was about to do. On my head, I felt Issun tense and grab onto my fur. He knew exactly what I was planning.

"Leap before you think!" I yelled with a wild smile on my face. I knew I was totally insane when my feet left the platform.

Fifteen seconds. That was how long it took to reach the ground. Thanks to Nippon logic, I didn't go splat on contact. Although my mind _did_ feel a bit fuzzy for some reason. Oh, and my ears hurt like heck. But that was to be expected. Amazingly enough, I didn't hear Issun scream at all.

"You okay?" I questioned. He pricked my head with Denkomaru. "I'll take that as a yes."

After a little bit of practice with the new brush technique, we were on our way to meet up with Ammy and Orca. All I could think was…

_I have to do that again later._

* * *

><p>Some of you- **- might have noticed that Celia's little angst-y moment kind of seemed like one of my own. I swear, I wrote this chapter looooooong before that. Guess it just goes to show OCs are a lot more like their authors than we all think, huh? *hugs Celia*<p>

Celia: WTF? GET OFF OF ME!

8D


	25. To the Dragon Palace!

A trend I've noticed in this story. Lazy chapter=fluff scene to make it up.

Have fun reading, kiddos! 8D

Chapter 22-To the Dragon Palace!

"Negative five jugs of sake on the wall, negative five jugs of sake. You take one down, pass it-"

"WILL YOU CUT IT OUT?"

"And I have finally gotten the poncle to speak!" I gasped in mock amazement. Once Issun realized it, he practically radiated frustration and anger.

"Why you little-"

"I'm back." My ears perked up when I heard Ammy's voice. Thank the brush gods she interrupted Issun's rant. "So, did you find anything interesting up there?" She questioned from Orca's bucket/saddle/insert word of choice here.

"Oh, nothing much. Just a new brush technique." I shrugged nonchalantly. "Y'know, the usual. Now we can walk up walls wherever a cat statue is."

"Oh, really?"

"Yup. So, what'd you do? Get any new brush techniques?" I asked her, randomly examining my paw. Seriously, what the heck was that tuft of fur thing there for?

"Three."

"Cool." I had my own Issun moment there. "Wait, what? There are only two left!" I stared in shock and confusion.

"Furball, I hate to break this to you, but I think you might've been hallucinating one or two of those…" Issun trailed warily.

Ammy just laughed. "They're all secondary brush techniques, like fireburst and mist warp."

"Oooooh."

"So, which brush techniques were upgraded?" I inquired, tilting my head curiously.

"Powerslash is stronger, two cherry bombs can be made at once, and…well, watch this." She jumped onto shore and drew three horizontal lines in the air with a cool smirk on her face. Out of nowhere, strong winds surrounded her, forming a large tornado. Unfortunately, it only lasted about six seconds.

I instantly jumped to my feet out of shock and awe, but suddenly stumbled and crashed into the rock wall next to me. Ammy dashed over to my side, concern evident in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I answered, closing my eyes. "I just feel kinda sick. It'll go away." Ammy helped me get onto Orca while Issun groaned.

"Silver, don't you dare puke!" I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the headache that was quickly develoing.

"I won't, okay? Jeez…" I muttered, curling up and trying to think happy, not sick thoughts. (And I swear, if you have your head in the gutter for a sentence like that, either you have a strong sense of irony, or you need to get your brain checked, because that's just not healthy, no matter how much of an immature teenager you may be.)

The ride back to the dock was really quick. The walk over to the cat statue on the other side of North Ryoshima Coast? Not so much. And it was filled with poncle complaints. Seriously, I thought we were done with that after Hana Valley. There would've been a lot of bickering too, if I hadn't been feeling bad enough to not even care to reply. The fact that I didn't want to talk, much less argue with Issun, just had Ammy even more concerned, but whenever she tried saying something, I'd just assure her I was totally fine. Of course, it didn't help my case when I tried to use catwalk and nothing even happened. Teah, that was great. Especially when Issun laughed his head off. He was so lucky I was feeling merciful towards his health and didn't eat him.

Oh, and for the record, never jump up a wall when you're feeling sick. It makes things worse than you've ever thought possible.

"Dear Yomigami…" I muttered, lying near the edge of the cliff, trying to keep the contents of my stomach where they belonged.

"Come on, Silver." Issun encouraged, but I could hear the smug tone in his voice. He was enjoying being able to act like the smart one for once…although I'm not exactly sure how my condition made him think I was an idiot…well, kids, there's an example of his stupidity right there!

I gave a small growl, but got up and followed Ammy to a path where we came face to ugly face with the area's own Frank! Seriously, did every section of Nippon have its own designated Frank of nature or something? The monster in front of us was mostly made up of head. Blue head. With one giant eye. It was also smoking a pipe. Legs sprouted directly from its chin…or, at least, that was what it looked like. It had chicken legs. Giant freaking chicken legs. And instead of arms, it had giant wings.

This ends fail creature analysis by yours truly.

A weird ball of purple smoke shot out of its mouth…although maybe that isn't the right term, seeing as it moved slower than molasses..and yet it ended up hitting me and Ammy anyways while we tried to make our getaway. (Thank…whichever brush god's idea it was to make travelers charms for godhood levels.)

The next attack was a giant glob of fire. That one scared me pretty bad, considering I barely dodged. The heat still slightly burned my fur, which didn't do much for the fever I suspected I was getting. Dang, it was just one symptom after the other with this…I decided it was a stomach flu, seeing as how I kept nearly puking every two seconds. And I had a feeling my luck wouldn't hold in the middle of battle. I mean, barf or get burned. Which would _you_ choose?

Ammy managed to hit the mutated bird with her weapon once before having to dodge a fireball. Luckily, that meant its attention wasn't on me. While Ammy weaved through a few thrown knives, I changed my rosary to my subweapon and hit the monster two or three times. When it turned towards me, I freaked out and used Seven Strike. I wished I had known how it liked to attack airborne enemies _before_ I pulled it out, because I came dangerously close to losing my lunch when I had to balance on my sword as it sailed through the air and stabbed the bird. It was pure luck when the fireball it launched at me apparently couldn't hit me from where I had landed. Clenching my teeth, I repeated the attack, extremely thankful for godhood levels now. I would've been a pile of ashes if not for it.

I made my getaway…or at least, I _tried_ to. I stopped midway as all my luck vanished. It started with me finally barfing. (And Issun's complaints of how gross it was.) If you've ever seen a dog barf, you should know that they instantly stop whatever they're doing to do that first. I did not know that was a natural thing that can't be helped, like closing your eyes when you sneeze. You can't imagine how freaked out I was standing out in the middle of the open and not being able to move out of harm's way.

The fact that three knives sailed towards me didn't help the situation at all. Ammy was only able to powerslash one on a second's notice. The other two? Well, let's just say my left front leg began bleeding profusely and hurt like heck. A few beads of rosary flew over my head, but I was too miserable at that moment to give a crap.

And then the monster decided to show us its invincible form! Yeah, you heard me right. We couldn't do any harm to it whatsoever.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't know this. I was kind of ticked off (Like how I used to not think of Waka that badly and instantly changed my mind after the fight incident.) and my wolf instincts took over, causing me to lunge at the bird. (And yes, I was done barfing, you smart aleck-y people.) The attack resulted in me getting a pretty bad electric shock. It wasn't fun, by the way. I was pretty much out of the fight after that.

(Time Skip: Oh, great. Now she's getting lazy and just using me in random places because she can't figure out what to write next.)

"Are you okay?" Ammy asked, rushing over to me.

"Fantastic. Never better!" I answered with thick sarcasm, albeit pretty weakly.

"You just love using up all our holy bones, don't ya?" Issun complained and tossed me a small bone.

"Not my fault I barfed and failed at fighting." I replied after I was done with it, standing up and shaking my fur. "Minus the being stabbed and electrocuted thing, I feel slightly better after…you know."

"That was disgusting." Issun gagged.

"Yeah, like you've never had the flu before." I countered. "And you'd better shut your mouth, or you'll end up in mine. And I seriously doubt you wanna end up there now of all times."

"Touché, my fluffy friend. Touché."

A voice interrupted our conversation. "Someone there?"

"Just a goddess, a sick wolf, and someone with the brain the size of a grain of sand…if that can even be considered an insult to him." I'm not gonna lie, it felt good to be able to make quick witty replies again. Or at least for the time being, until my nausea came back. We all walked over to the person, seeing as there was nothing better to do.

"This is Watcher's Cape." He informed us. "It's said the gods once used this place to return to the heavens. At night, this place offered a great view of the starry sky. Even the whirlpool galaxy was visible from the cape's tip!" Am I the only one who thinks that name belongs in a game like Super Mario Galaxy?

"Whirlpool Galaxy?" See? Issun agrees with me.

"It's a group of stars. They form the shape of a great spiral, like a heavenly whirlpool. But since the demon-shaped island appeared at sea, there are more and more monsters about, and the skies have dulled. The magnificent starry view can no longer be seen. When night falls, I've got a wish to make upon a shooting star. If you wish upon a star, it always comes true!" And now we were ripping off old Disney movies. Great. Would now be a bad time to mention that the 'demon-shaped island' looked a lot like Batman to me?

I swished my tail and…nothing happened. I growled in frustration and kept trying to use crescent, but the brush technique refused to work for me. I knew I'd never hear the end of this from Issun.

"Let me do it." Ammy said gently. I sighed and nodded, watching as the moon suddenly appeared in the sky.

And at that exact same time, a wave of nausea rolled over me again. I lurched and fell to the ground, once again curling up and trying to get it to go away.

"Are you okay, Celia?" Ammy prodded me with her paw.

"I'm fine. It's probably like the eating and sleeping thing." I dismissed, although I talked rather quickly so I could spend more time being silent. "Just finish whatever we were doing without me."

Strangely enough, Ammy actually complied with my request and just left me alone. I'm not sure, but I think I might've fallen asleep, because I remember something about talking cheese…

…moving right along…

Ammy woke me up, or at least tried to. She had to tell me that they had found the entrance to the Dragonian Domain. That brought me to my senses in an instant. Luckily, the few minutes of rest made me feel a little better. Making the most of my 'not feeling crappy' time, we made a mad dash to the dock, where Orca was waiting.

"Hi-yo, Orca away!" Issun commanded. Not even five seconds in, guess who appeared!

If you guessed the Water Dragon, you are correct!

"Go! Go! Go!" I yelled, quickly panicking. The Water Dragon followed us, easily closing the distance between us. My heart pounded in my chest loudly and I couldn't keep myself from staring wide-eyed in terror.

"There's the whirlpool!" Ammy announced. "Get ready!"

"It's getting closer!" I barked, my ears flat against my head. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the entrance like my friend had said, but I couldn't tell if we would make it or not. A few seconds later, we were in the current. The Water Dragon spread its massive jaws…

…and then I blacked out.

(Time Skip: Seriously? Unconscious scene transitions are so over-used it's not even funny. And yet they'll continue to be used in this story.)

"Ugh…feel like crap…"

"You're okay!" I felt a wolf licking my hand…wait, hand? I instantly sat up, my eyes wide open in shock.

"Where the heck are we?" I asked, holding my head. Bolting up was _not_ a good idea.

"You're in the Dragon Palace." A girl answered. I turned my head towards the voice and stared. There was a mermaid at the side of the bed I was lying in.

Wait, why was I in a bed?

Ugh, I needed to stop questioning those kinds of things. The mermaid had an orange tail and light blue hair pulled into two buns. (There were also weird orange fin things in her hair. I couldn't figure out if they were a part of her or just a hair accessory that Dragonians liked or something.) Her swimsuit-like top was orange and she had light blue bracelets that had, yup, orange fins on 'em.

"Glad to see you're awake, Seashell!" It took me a second to realize she was referring to me.

"Oh! Um…thanks?" I said awkwardly. "But my name is Celia…"

"You never told me you don't like the nickname before." The mermaid gave me a weird look.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"You don't remember me?"

Well, this conversation was quickly taking a nosedive. "Not really…I've never met a Dragonian before…are you sure you're not mistaking me for someone else?" I questioned.

"Well, she's not Squiddy." She pointed to Ammy. "But I know you're Seashell. Your voice sounds exactly the same." Well, that's a real reliable gauge, huh?

"Wait, who's Squiddy?" Gosh, this girl was making absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Yet she was looking at me like _I_ was the insane one. "You don't remember Squiddy, either? But you two were always together!" I gave her a blank stare. "You called him Chibi."

"Wait!" Issun interrupted. "If this 'Chibi' or whoever the heck he is looks like Ammy…"

"They look exactly alike. Markings and everything." The mermaid persisted.

"Right. Well, if you add 'terasu' to the end of that name, it means 'little sun'…" We both stared at Ammy. If wolves could blush, she'd be red as a tomato.

"No, I don't have a child. Besides, have I even been alive long enough for that?" She defended.

"All right, you have a point there." Issun grumbled.

"My name is Nanami, okay? Don't forget it this time." The girl told me with a good-natured smile. It was then that I noticed the cup of red liquid in her hand. Of course, right when I saw it, she offered it to me. "Here, it's a special medicine. It'll make your sickness go away a lot faster than normal."

I cautiously took the cup from her and stared at it. "This is gonna taste bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. Sorry." Nanami said apologetically. "It'll go away soon, though. And it'll make you feel a lot better."

I gave a weak smile. "Well, here goes nothing!" And I downed it all in less than a second. A few moments passed. "I don' see how that was b-" Cue the horrible flavor. Aftertaste for the lose. Think of the worse medicine you've ever had to take. Now imagine drinking ten bottles of the stuff in as short of a time span as I did. And now you somewhat understand my pain.

"Told you." Nanami said while I heard Issun laughing. I wanted to punch him so badly. "The symptoms are going to get worse, but they'll all be gone by tomorrow. The medicine kind of just speeds up the process."

"Greaaat." I commented, not sure if I was thankful or angry that I wasn't told this information sooner.

"I'd stay here with you, but I have to get back to Otohime. I'm her attendant."

"We have to see her, too." Ammy piped up.

"Really? Then we can go to see her throne room together!" Nanami seemed excited.

"Wait, wait, wait! I don't wanna be left alone!" I complained.

"Nanami has to get back to Otohime, and I doubt it'd be smart to let Issun do things by himself…"

"Hey!"

"So I guess that means he'll be the one to stay behind." Ammy finished.

"What?" Issun and I both asked at the same time.

"This is the only way it'll work, okay? Just go along with it."

We both grumbled a synchronized, "Fine…"

"Good. And please don't kill each other while I'm gone." She joked, then she and Nanami left. A few moments of silence ensued before I gave Issun an evil look. Said poncle backed away from me.

"Don't you dare." He warned, probably narrowing his eyes at me.

"There's no one to stop me." I pointed out, grabbing my paintbrush.

"Aaaammyyyyyyy!" Issun yelled, trying to make a run for it and instead slamming his face into the door. I had to stifle a laugh.

"Calm down, bug boy. I don't wanna face Ammy's wrath if I do that." I leaned my head against a pillow and shivered. "Dang it, I think I'm getting chills already." And of course right when I pointed out one symptom, I developed another. "Dear Ammy, that was fast. The headache's comin' back." I complained and closed my eyes, trying to ignore it the best I could.

I jumped in surprise about a minute later when I felt a cool hand press against my forehead. I opened my eyes and just stared at Issun. I was about to ask him how the heck he was normal size, but he apparently saw the question in my eyes and held up the lucky mallet in his other hand. So that was what it did to poncles…

"You've got a fever." He announced. "Which is probably why that Nanami chick hid the blankets earlier."

"Brain-damaged Celia is not a happy Celia." I agreed, then shivered again. "But that doesn't mean I'm not miserable. Does this waterbed have ice in it or something?"

"If it does, it'll help bring your temperature down." He pointed out. I gave him puppy dog eyes. While not a wolf, they were still effective in some situations. "No, I'm not going to go find the blankets. I don't even know where she stashed 'em."

I gave him a glare and crossed my arms like a pouty little kid. "You suck."

He suddenly snapped his fingers. "I've got it!"

"And what is your plan, O smart one?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Snuggling!" I would've thought he was joking if he hadn't looked so enthusiastic about it.

"…you can't be serious. I'm not cuddling with you. I'll go curl up in that corner and freeze to death now."

It was Issun's turn to pout, but that expression was soon replaced by a humorous one. "Freeze then, 'cuz I wanna see what a water bed feels like!" He pushed me over a little and jumped onto the bed. "This is awesome!" I face/palmed.

"Glad to know you care nothing about the pain I'm in."

"You hated my plan." Issun pointed out with a shrug.

"…just don't get any ideas." I said and leaned against him. I could tell he was shocked that I actually gave in. I was freezing, okay?

And, all right, that doesn't explain my heart beating faster. Or the awkwardness that immediately ensued. Or the fact that I was blushing. Probably profusely. I will admit to all of that.

"Y'know, Ammy probably won't be back for a while…" Issun trailed. I grabbed the other pillow and started whacking him over the head with it. He threw his arms up in defense and surrender. "I'm kidding, all right?"

"You'd better be." I chided, glaring at him. He put his arms down, albeit slowly, not wanting to take another chance of a pillow to the face. He calmly held my gaze, and soon I felt myself calm down. Still, that better had just been a joke.

And then keeping eye contact for that long suddenly felt awkward. As soon as I realized it, the blush came back to my cheeks. Issun smiled when he noticed it, which just caused me to blush even more…and slightly scold myself for suddenly acting that way. He put his hand behind my head and brought his face closer to mine. Before I knew what was happening, we were kissing. His eyes were half-open, giving into mine. As opposed to me; I was wide-eyed in shock, even though I should've seen it coming. I have my stupid moments, okay? The kiss lasted a lot longer than the prank back in Kamiki, and I felt totally flustered when Issun pulled away.

"I hate you so much." I said and pushed his forehead away. Hey, I had a reputation to keep, and I wasn't going to be all googly-eyed because of one kiss.

He smirked. "You liked it, didn't you?"

"I plead the fifth." Then I rested my head on his shoulder. "Oh, and by the way, I'll be laughing my butt off when you get sick."

Apparently the thought hadn't occurred to him. "Ah, cr-"

I just gave a small giggle and drifted off into sleep.

* * *

><p>Celia: ...I'm going to run away and hope to forget this chapter. ._.<br>HEY, EVERYONE! GO ONTO DA AND FIND HER ASK ACCOUNT! YOU CAN PESTER HER ABOUT THIS AND OTHER THINGS TO NO END! 8D


	26. The impostor

All right, I should probably clarify this now. No, CeliaxIssun is NOT an official pairing...yet. You'll see why early on in this chapter. But don't worry, it will be~  
>Celia: Goody. -.-<p>

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Cookie Island is thataway! *points in a random direction* We just installed a theme park! 8D

By the way, fail chapter title is fail. I'm on a very short time limit this morning and I can't come up with anything witty. XD

Chapter 23- The impostor

My heart pounded as we raced across the sand. Every step I took, I needed to go faster, forced myself to go faster. My lungs burned for more oxygen. My scrambled brain was trying to process everything. If anything, I blamed this all on Murphy's Law.

Explanations had been given during the first half of this little mad dash. While I had been sleeping off my sickness, Ammy went to go talk to Otohime. Said queen sent my friend off to _the Water Dragon's stomach._ How the heck did information leak out about the battle with Blight? …Anyways, Ammy not only got the Dragon Orb Otohime wanted, but she also found the Fox Rods. After a quick chat with the dying Water Dragon, she learned that he was actually kind of the Dragonians. Kind Wada had turned himself into a dragon to fight off the monsters from Oni Island. He managed to steal, AKA eat, the Fox Rods, which were actually the Dark Lord's weapon, but they drove him to insanity. After the talk with the king, Rao appeared on scene and Ammy gave her the Fox Rods, putting a giant bull's eye on her back. While giving the dragon orb back to Otohime, said magical sphere told them that a priestess taking a stroll back to her temple with one of the most powerful weapons in existence will not go unnoticed. So now we were on our way back to Ankoku Temple to hopefully safe Rao before it was too late. And, since I didn't mention it before, yes, I was once again in wolf form. Wake up healthy=wake up wolf. Fun little equation there.

Eventually, we got to our destination. Although it should probably be mentioned that once we got to the giant bell in Ryoshima Coast, I swear I imagined Rao wave at us urgently and go up the steps to the temple.

"Whoa, it's the busty babe!" Issun exclaimed.

"Good. So I'm not going mad."

"She's gone now…" He sulked, sounding way too depressed over the fact, and I had to keep myself from squishing him right then and there. Y'see, that's one of the reasons I tried to think nothing of prior events when I had woken up; Issun falls for every girl he sees. My mind was just fuzzy at the moment because I had been kissed, which explained my flustered behavior.

"Then let's follow her." Ammy decided, and we were off and running again, but not for long. As soon as we reached the bottom of the steps, Rao appeared again for a couple of seconds.

"W-wait, babe, wait!" Issun yelled. "She wants us to follow her?"

"Hm, well, that hand gesture usually means 'follow me.' What do you think, moron?" I asked, walking ahead. I wanted him to know that what happened before meant nothing as long as he kept gawking over other girls all the time.

Once I got to the top of the steps, Rao signaled to go to the back of the building. Luckily, this time Ammy and Issun arrived right when she disappeared.

"This was where I saw Rao." Ammy informed us. "She has to be close." A bad feeling started growing inside me. A feeling of total dread. Something in the back of my mind told me to prepare myself.

The next time Rao appeared, she told us to go through the cliff wall. Solid rock. I'm sorry, but _what?_

"What the?" Issun gasped. "You two see that? That busty babe went right through the wall!"

"Then that's where we'll go." Ammy dashed into the cliff side. I was expecting her to get a concussion or break her muzzle or something, but she just disappeared. A little bit alarmed, I ran after her and found myself in a small cave with a well in the middle.

"Who would have thought there'd be a secret passage here?" Issun spoke quietly. "You feel a draft coming out of the well? It must lead to that busty babe or I'm a monkey's uncle! Hurry! Leap before you think, right?"

Sticking to our motto, we went down the well and into a secret passageway. I nearly had a heart attack at the sight of a long-dead skeleton and the bad feeling I had only kept growing. I mean, it obviously wasn't Rao, but I was getting a bad vibe. Crap was gonna go down soon; I just knew it. Ammy and I walked through the eerie tunnel, ending up in a small store room. Some treasure chests gave us a pearl, a bull horn, and a scroll titled 'Northern Land,' but we mutually agreed to save reading time for later. Once outside, we got a pretty big shock.

"Huh? Isn't this…Himiko's Palace?" Issun questioned, clearly dumbfounded. I have to admit, I was, as well. "Why is there a tunnel from Ankoku Temple to here?"

"Maybe because Rao is Himiko's attendant?" I tried, knowing how pathetic the idea was. But this whole thing was starting to creep me out; I needed some explanation to cling to.

"We need to check up on Himiko." Ammy said urgently.

"No arguments there!" We ran into the main part of the palace, only to stop right before the elevator. Himiko's handmaiden was lying on the ground, barely conscious.

"Your…m-m-majesty…Qu-queen…Himiko…" She managed to mutter before passing out.

"Hey toots, what the heck happened?" Issun asked uselessly.

"In the elevator. Now." Ammy's commanding voice was starting to scare me. It was proof of how bad the situation was. I just followed her orders and trailed behind as we quickly made our way to Himiko's room. I re-equipped the fire tablet while we waited in the elevator so once the door opened we could go, go, go! That was probably the fastest I've ever swam in my life. The multiple rooms meant for security were starting to tick me off. It felt like they were only slowing us down.

The sight that greeted us when we finally got to the main room was not a happy one- Himiko lying on the ground with a lot of blood on her.

"Huh? What the heck happened?" Issun asked in horror. "Hey, pretty lady! Himiko!"

"That won't work." I whispered. "She's…"

"She's dead." Ammy finished grimly.

"It was terrifying…" All of our gazes snapped over to Rao, who was shaking on the other side of the room. "A monster ten times my height appeared…it destroyed the magical barrier and left Queen Himiko like that…"

"Busy babe? Is that you?" Issun questioned. "What monster are you talking about?"

"The thing that attacked her at Ankoku Temple, maybe." Ammy suggested, but judging by her flat tone, I had a feeling she had a different theory. One she didn't want to share.

"I'm…I'm scared now…" Rao murmured. I doubt Issun heard her that time. It was so quiet only a wolf could pick it up. Luckily, she spoke louder after that. "The evil beings we must defeat to save the people in the city…their leader is such a mighty beast! No human could stand up to it!" I would've tried to make a small comment about how we were technically two wolves and a poncle to lighten the mood, had I not been starting to freak out. "Our feeble mortal resistance is futile!"

"Dang it!" Issun spat. His jumps became more frequent. "Himiko said she'd be okay as long as she had that crystal ball. So how the heck did this happen?" He stopped bouncing for a second. "Hey, Ammy, why d'ya keep staring at the busty babe? Himiko's dead! Aren't you the least bit sad?" The wolf suddenly got into a battle position, growling dangerously. I took a step back in shock. "What's wrong, Ammy?"

"Imposter!" My friend snarled. If looks could kill, Rao would've died and died again in the afterlife.

"Amaterasu?" Rao questioned. "What are you doing?"

"Down, Ammy!" Issun commanded, sounding frustrated.

"Have you lost your mind?" Rao's voice suddenly quieted. "Are you in the grip of the curse as well?"

"Huh?" I froze, my eyes slowly drifting over to the woman. That bad feeling I had? Yeah, it got ten times worse.

Rao started mumbling some random gibberish and after about ten seconds of it Ammy had had enough and lunged. The priestess looked up, her eye glowing red, and she appeared right next to me. I flipped out and backed away quickly, my eyes wide in fear. I had absolutely no clue what was going on anymore, but I knew I didn't want to be near Rao.

"What the-?" Issun gasped as Ammy spun around, anger and frustration clear in her expression. "What's up with those freaky eyes of yours, babe? You're freaking me out!"

"Yeah, try being over here!" I yelled over to him, currently thing the fact that the creepy chick was in between me and Ammy. I felt helpless.

The creepy laughing didn't help in the least. "Well, carrying on with this any longer would spoil the fun. You are a cunning beast, Amaterasu. I lured you both to the treasure ship as bait for the Water Dragon, but you escaped and managed to get your paws on the lucky mallet. You even cleared the city of the poison mist. You also started searching for Oni Island to bring down my fortress, and you even managed to take the mighty Water Dragon!"

"B-but…" Issun was acting like a whiny baby now.

"But now that the Water Dragon has gone, my fortress is impregnable! And Himiko is but a lifeless corpse. You'll never know where Oni Island is now! Luck must be on my side." She chuckled. "Occupying the body of this priestess, Rao, made it so simple. Breaking Himiko's magical barrier was easy once I got close to her."

"Where's the busty babe we know and love?" Issun demanded.

It all started making sense to me. "Issun, we never knew her! That thing Ammy saw, it was showing how Rao died! Her body was at the bottom of the well! We've been helping a copycat!"

She turned towards me, giving a sarcastic appleause. I narrowed my eyes. "Very clever. But as I said before, the damage has been done. And it's all thanks to this item Amaterasu got back from the Water Dragon!" A bundle of nine bamboo rods appeared in her hands. "All because the Fox Rods are mine once again! Amaterasu, Celia…you foolish brats! And to think that the intelligent one of the group parted with this mighty source of magic so easily." She turned towards Ammy, a dangerous smirk on her face. "Know that it was you who revived the power of the Dark Lord!" She spun around and in a poof of smoke, her appearance changed. She looked more evil-y… okay, I suck at descriptions.

"She's really the Dark Lord?" Issun was in shock. "The grand master of all evil beings?"

"The Fox Rods made the crystal ball's barrier shatter like glass!" Not-Rao bragged. "Oh, if only you'd been here to see Himiko die! I think I'll take the crystal ball with me in the event that one of your pathetic friends tries to locate me." She shrunk the orb and swallowed it whole. I gagged. "And if I deal with you two now too, Amaterasu and Celia, nothing can stand in the way of my world of evil beings!"

"Boy, you're a real good faker! You had us totally fooled!"

"Issun, why the heck are you encouraging her?" I nearly face/paw'd.

"Wait! Jeez!" He snapped. "At least we won't have to worry about Oni Island anymore. We're gonna finish you off right here!" Ammy let out a snarl to agree with the poncle's statement.

"Die!" I yelled. Being behind the faker gave me an advantage I wouldn't miss out on. I ran up to her and used an exorcism slip L. I attacked her with my rosary and ended with a powerslash before backing off, easily dodging her sword. "…that was easy."

Not-Rao was stunned while trying to pull her sword, which she had tried to attack with, out of the floor, so Ammy copied what I had done the first time and used her rosary followed by a powerslash. I was curious and tried a cherry bomb, but that idea failed. Note to self: In Okami, bombs suck. So I decided to use the awesome hurricane attack for the first time. That also did squat. And I got a knife to the leg again. What is up with my bad luck with daggers? At least it only scratched me, unlike in some certain battles. (Coughwakacough) Not-Rao attempted to hit Ammy with her sword and I am glad to say it was a failed attack. Karma~

Aaanyways, I suddenly got the best idea ever. After somehow managing to tell it to Ammy, she nodded. I then proceeded to use exorcism slips and the awesome stun effect they produce to finish the battle. So what if it was cheating? It got the job done, right?

The force of one of the blasts sent her flying into the wall, which also caused her to spit out the crystal ball. Killing two birds with one stone!

"Okay, we have her now! Let's finish off that fox-headed wench!" Issun yelled.

"With pleasure!" I growled. We all charged, but once we got close to the faker, a barrier stopped us. We could only watch as nine balls of blue fire with kanji appeared behind her. I kid you not, it looked like she was having a really freaking huge crap or something when she started growing tails. After that weird phenomenon, there was a blast of blue smoke emitted by the tails, and when things became at least a little bit visible, evil Rao was replaced with a giant animal with glowing red eyes.

"That was the thing that killed Rao!" Ammy snarled.

"Ignorant fools! Did you really think it would be that easy?" She questioned. "I have powers beyond belief! Here is but a taste of what the Dark Lord can do!" I didn't even have time to gasp as a glob of green smoking goo hit me and Ammy, sending us both flying backwards. "Hmph! Petty deities! It is only the size of this room that saved you. It is far too small for me to unleash my true fury. However, resistance is futile, for your last remaining hope is gone. I shall now return to Oni Island and rally my dark forces! Then we'll go forth and crush all who stand against the darkness!"

A pretty glowing blue and purple light appeared, and with one last evil chuckle, the monster was gone.

_Amaterasu and Celia had allowed the Dark Lord to slip away. The display of evil sent chills down the wolves' spines. Amaterasu, Celia, and Issun were left to wallow in overwhelming sadness. Himiko had remained steadfast in her quest to find Oni Island. In the end, she lost her life at the hands of the Dark Lord. With Himiko died all the clues to the location of Oni Island. Amaterasu, Celia, and Issun were left with nary a shred of hope. Giving up on their quest seemed the only option…_

_That's when they noticed the blood caked crystal ball spewed forth by the Dark Lord clearly displayed an image of Himiko. Issun, doubting his eyes, listened intently as Himiko began speaking. She explained that Oni Island would not be easy to find and that she had determined to become ethereal and enter the crystal ball herself in search of clues. She had allowed herself to be consumed in order to use the Dark Lord's power. She was also aware that the Dark Lord now possessed the Fox Rods. All was planned. Himiko's will infused the crystal with great power. The fortress housing the dark forces materialized. Oni Island appears only at sunset in a certain location. The place revealed by the crystal ball was none other than a spot just off the northwest shore of Ryoshima Coast, near the spot known as Watcher's Cape. Oni Island would appear at Watcher's cape at the next sunset. A small glimmer of hope sparked in Amaterasu, Celia, and Issun's hearts._

_Just as the image of Oni Island faded from the crystal, a deep crack appeared and split Himiko's image. She had paid the ultimate price for manipulating the dark power. The crystal itself had been spent. The destiny of Himiko's wary soul had been inextricable intertwined with that of the crystal ball. A burst of blinding light heralded the crystal's demise. Himiko's soul was caught up in the shattered fragments…and drifted serenely toward the heavens above, even as she prayed fervently for Amaterasu and Celia's safe passage._

"Ammy! Silver! The sun's gonna set soon! Oni Island's gonna disappear! That revelation Himiko risked her life to tell us…"

"We can't let it go to waste!" I finished for Issun.

"Yeah! Who cares if we can't break the barrier on Oni Island?"

"Enough talking; Let's go!" Ammy yelled, and we were off.

(Time Skip: Dang it, I thought I was going to be replaced by that ~ for a second.)

"We made it!" I breathed a sigh of relief as we passed the gate to Watcher's Cape.

"Hey…is that…" Issun was cut off by the dragonian who had beat us to the area.

"Why, Amaterasu and Celia!" Otohime- or at least, I assumed she was Otohime. I had never seen or met her before- turned to face us.

"Hiya, babe!" Issun greeted in a cheery tone, reminding , me of why I wanted to kill him. "How'd you find this place?"

"I sensed Himiko's fathomless regret on her last breath. It made its way to the distant halls of the Dragon Palace." Okay, I'll admit, that answer made me feel really bad for Himiko. Otohime didn't even give us time for that to sink in before gesturing to the horizon and continuing. "Behold, the sun! Even now it sinks down beyond the sea. Once it is gone, so too shall Oni Island disappear. No one knows where it will appear next. And no act known to mortals can derive its location!"

"That may be true, but listen…" Issun said glumly. "It doesn't matter because we can't break the barrier. I mean, the Water Dragon was our only hope, and it's dead now."

"The Water Dragon is not dead in the true sense of the word." Otohime informed us. My ears perked up in interest. "I can harness its power with a sincere prayer to the dragon orb." Ammy and I shared a hopeful glance. To us, any new opportunity for success was a cause for immense celebration, no matter what other crap was inevitably in store for us. "Behold, Amaterasu and Celia! I, Otohime of the Dragonians, shall transform into a dragon and break through the wall that divides. May I serve you as a divine bridge to the heavens!" She pulled out (What I assumed to be) the Dragon Orb and in a burst of light instead of a dragonian there was a giant, huge, enormous water dragon in front of us. Did I mention it was big? Like, big enough to stretch out all the way to Oni Island, which was exactly what she did.

"Now, Amaterasu and Celia!" By Nippon logic, we could hear Otohime's voice coming all the way from said island. "You must cross while life still courses through these veins!"

"Okay! Hang in there, babe! We'll be there in a jiffy!" Issun yelled as loud as he could in an attempt to get the message across. Then, to us, he said, "Sorry, Furball and Fluffy. Looks like millet dumplings aren't in your stars."

"Yeah, ya think?" I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

"You'll just have to settle for kicking some monster butt on Oni Island instead!"

I looked at the new Water Dragon's back. It seriously looked like a bridge made just for this purpose. Ammy and I began to run across, although Issun stopped us about halfway.

"All right, listen up, you two."

"What now?" I groaned. "We need to get to the island as fast as possible. Now isn't the time for your annoying as heck stalling."

I would've thought he glared at me, but given the quickness of his response, I actually think he didn't.

"Himiko's probably watching over us, so…promise me you two won't give up for some stupid reason like you're hungry or have to go to the bathroom!"

"Wow. That was arguably the worst pep talk in existence."

Ammy shook her head in amazement. "Don't worry. We're ready, Issun."

"Okay, then…I'll hold ya by your word!" He warned, and with that, we were off to Oni Island.

(Time Skip: Seriously, can I go home? This is a stupid job.)

We slowed down once we passed the barrier, which kept making loud noises every other second. It almost seemed to be growling at us for being able to pass through unharmed. We jumped off Otohime's head and literally two steps later, Issun seemed mystified at the small pool of lava before us. I figured out what to do before he even said anything redundant and/or useless and used waterspout to make the lava rise. (Yes, the brush technique _water_spout apparently is multi-purpose. Who would've guessed it?) I jumped onto the small platform of lava, totally ignoring Issun's complaints of going too fast and being impatient, and waited for Ammy to swim up next to me. We continued on the path, passing a golden gate, before coming face-to-face with a giant pit of lava.

I turned to Ammy. "Leap before you think, right?"

"Yup." She answered, and we leaped towards the nearest stone platform. (Which was probably there because any lilypad put in the lava would instantly burn up.) After a short swim to the next platform, there was a fork in the road. By mutual agreement, Ammy took the path on the right and I took the one of the left. And hey, not having to deal with Issun for a minute or two was good enough for me.

I swam to the left, climbing up on a platform, before noticing the raised rock with a konahana blossom. By video game logic, that meant something good. Well, if you consider a pearl good. Meh, it was better than nothing. I made my way over to the obvious lava spout, riding it to the top and arriving at a very long pathway. I smiled as I spotted Ammy. Apparently both paths lead to the same place.

"Took you long enough!" Issun huffed in exasperation.

"And just what's that supposed to mean? I'm surprised you two even got here before me." I retorted.

"Got here before you _and_ finished a fight."

"What?" I yelled in disbelief.

"Can we please not fight now?" Ammy cut in. "We have an entire island to get through."

"Yeah. Good idea." I agreed, although I was giving Issun a death glare. I'm positive he was returning it.

And on that uneasy note, we entered the main part of the dungeon: Oni Island's interior.

(Time Skip: Really, why am I here? Just because all the past methods of dividing chapters into different parts failed?)

The inside of the hideout was about as pretty as the outside. And that's putting it kindly. Creepy scrolls, spikes, and an annoying eye symbol were pretty much the only decorations. (That we could see at the moment, anyways.) The pathway directly in front of us was closed off with bars, the door on the right was occupied by a lockjaw, so we could only go left. Not a few seconds later we had to choose between _another_ locked door or an open room with the lockjaw key. Which one do _you_ think we went into? But, as with all rooms void of everything but a conveniently placed key, of course we ran straight into a battle with two poltergeist.

Luckily for us, one was using electricity and one fire, so galestorm did the job. A few attacks with our weapons and both were dazed, just giving us enough time to finish the fight.

"…well, that was pathetically easy." I commented.

"Don't underestimate your enemy. We're only at the beginning." Ammy warned before picking up the key.

"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled, following after her as she ran to get rid of the lockjaw.

Issun finally spoke up. "Y'know, I think Silver might have a point. It took us forever to get the key in the Sunken Sh-"

"Do not mention that place unless you wish to never again see the light of day." I said bluntly, continuing down the newly opened path. I double jumped over a staircase to reach a treasure chest with a bullhorn, pausing for a second as the lighting changed from yellow to blue. I noticed Ammy did the same thing. Sharing a short glance and a shrug with my friend, I jumped back down the stairs. Once we got to the next staircase, the lighting switched back to normal.

"All right, it's official. This place is creepy." Issun decided.

I'll admit, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to taunt the poncle. "Aww, is wittwe Issun afraid of changing colors? You can go back outside if you'd like. Oh, wait, we'd have to go through the blue staircase, huh? Would you like me and Ammy to go with you?"

"I'm perfectly fine with going through this place!" Issun snapped, although quickly and somewhat frantically, which made it difficult not to laugh.

As we rounded the next corner, the first thing we noticed was a sign. I just stared at the title for a second. "To the Labyrinth of Torment." It took me a few seconds before reading on.

"Before playing in the Labyrinth of Torment, please note the following:  
>1: Step on the foot switch and the demon slip will start moving. Get through the exit gate first, or you'll be sealed in.<br>2: To make a dash, swing the Wii Remote to perform a tackle, and press and hold the control stick forward. Dashing is the fastest way to reach the exit gate.  
>3: The Labyrinth of Torment is for the enjoyment of everyone on Oni Island, so don't make a mess of it while playing.<p>

"…wow."

"The enjoyment of everyone?"

"What's a wii remote?"

"Just ignore it, Issun. It'll hurt your brain."

"Hm?" A new voice caused us all to turn and notice the floating piece of paper surrounded in pink and purple flames. "Excuse me, good sirs. Might I ask what you are doing here?"

"Invading your stronghold and coming to kill your leader?" I tried, giving the most innocent look I could.

"Huh? Did that scrap of paper just say something?" Issun gasped.

Considering the paper ignored me but responded to Issun, I figured this wasn't a character who could understand wolf. "Scrap of paper? Do not dishonor me with such an unflattering name. My name is Tobi!"

"A demon slip disguised as a prayer slip that can float, talk, and be on fire- _discolored fire_- and not burn to a crisp? Okay, what have I been unintentionally smoking?"

A small montage of every time I'd ever wall jumped or double jumped flashed in my mind, complete with comical music.

"…right."

"Yeah, whatever." Issun said, seeming uninterested in the whole situation. "So whaddya want, motor mouth?"

"I serve as a gatekeeper of Oni Island." Tobi answered. I swear, I heard pride in his voice. For some reason, it made me want to use inferno, had he not already been on fire. "My job is to keep suspicious people out. I have never seen you around here before, good sirs. Who are you and what business do you have here?"

"You talking to my fine furry friends?" Issun asked. 'Well, this here is Full-throttle Ammy!"

"Wait, who am I, then?"

"Hot-headed Silver."

"ISSUN!"

"Well, we have to get to the top of this place as soon as possible." He addressed Tobi again, totally ignoring me. "Sorry! No time to shoot the breeze with ya!"

"I am afraid I cannot allow that. Did you not hear me? I am the gatekeeper of Oni Island. But let us disperse with the formalities. So, good sirs. You are known as Full-throttle Ammy and Hot-headed Silver, are you?"

I turned to Issun. "I'm only going to warn you once. Start sleeping with one eye open, bug boy."

"Well, I fancy myself a fine racer too, you know. How about we challenge each other to a race? Just a race to see who can reach that exit gate over there first. That sign there explains how to race against me."

"Already read it."

"WHAT IS A WII REMOTE?"

"No one here quite knows. But as you said, let us stop shooting the breeze. From now on, let our race do the talking!"

"I'll do all the races and you can follow after it's over." Ammy offered. I thought about it for a minute before nodding.

"All right." I stood back and watched as Ammy for some reason backtracked. By the time I started wondering what she was planning, a wolf goddess and poncle raced past me, pressed the button, and shot past Tobi, not even giving the paper a chance.

I ran after her, wide eyed at the spectacle. "Impressive."

"Thank you." She smiled, and we continued to the next room.

"Not bad, good sir!" Tobi complimented. "But that was a mere warm up for me."

"Someone's a sore loser~" I sang under my breath.

"Now you shall see what I really can do. Now, I ask you, good sirs…can you bear being skewered alive?" My jaw dropped. "Stumble and you will fall headfirst into a sea of needles! Well, can you bear such a thing?"

"_You are an insane piece of paper!_"

"What're you talking about? I mean, who possible could?" Issun exclaimed, a bit of exasperation in his tone.

"Well, whatever happens, please do not give up. It is so exciting to finally have a worthy opponent after so long!"

"I don't think you'll wanna use that trick this time, Furball…"

Ammy nodded, eyes narrowed in determination. "I'll be able to outrun him."

And then they were both off. I watched in fear and amazement as my friend easily pulled ahead and got to the end without serious injury. I took my sweet time getting across, although I couldn't take _too_ long, unless I wanted the small platforms I was standing on to fall and leave me as a wolf kabob. After the spider incident, I wasn't in any way eager to repeat the experience, two full astral pouches or not.

While I wasted time carefully getting across the pointy pit of death, Ammy apparently collected a crystal while silently and patiently waiting for me to make my way to the other side. And I don't think I should have to mention that Issun was doing the exact opposite and ended up ranting as soon as I was in hearing distance of him.

"Shut up, bug boy. You get to be lazy and ride on our heads." I retorted once I made it across.

"Sorry I'm not the size of a normal human." He shot back while we climbed the stairs to the next area.

"Apology not accepted. We still have the Lucky Mallet. You're just too lazy to walk."

"So what if I am?"

"Then you will forever be haunted by the evil changing lights." I told him as soon as we came to another blue room.

"You're insane."

"Look who's talking."

"Are you calling me a hypocrite?"

"'_Leap before you think'?_"

"I may have made the motto, but you're the one who likes to follow it- DEAR KABEGAMI NOT ANOTHER LIGHT CHANGE!"

I just shook my head and followed Ammy up the catwalk path, jumping across a few platforms with spikes for edges afterwards. Seriously, what was with this place and spikes?

"You seem a bit winded, good sirs." Tobi commented once we reached the next race. "Do not risk your life by overdoing it. Hee hee. The terraced passage ahead is not at all dangerous. Shall we?"

An idea suddenly formed in my brain, and I smirked. "I say we make Issun do this one."

"What?" Said poncle yelled. "No way!"

"Oh, come on. This race isn't even that dangerous! And it looks like there'll be jumping involved. It's perfect for you! Or are you afraid you'll be beat by a piece of paper?"

Issun muttered quite a few curse words as he jumped off of Ammy's head and pulled out the Lucky Mallet, growing to full size.

Seeing him at full size suddenly reminded me of the events that had happened only yesterday. I felt like the wind was knocked out of me. I liked him, but there was no way in heck I was going to be his girlfriend or anything…even though at this point I kind of wanted to…just a little…

Shut up. I'm a typical teenage girl, what'd you expect?

_I hope you catch that sickness I had, you idiot player of a poncle,_ I thought bitterly, trying to get myself to quit thinking about how much I had actually liked the kiss. I watched him start the race, then quickly disappear from my view.

"Are you okay?" I gave a small jump when I heard Ammy's voice. I had forgotten she was with me.

"I'm perfectly fine." I answered bluntly, lying down and looking away from my friend.

"Could've fooled me." Ammy walked to my other side and looked me in the eye. I gave a small growl of annoyance and turned my head away, but she just repeated the process. "It's Issun, isn't it?"

"How can you do that?" I inquired, but with a small glare.

Ammy dodged my question and replied with her own. "You like him."

"What?" I shot up, suddenly feeling on edge. "Where'd you get that idea from?"

"It's pretty obvious."

I gave my friend the best death glare I could. "So what if I do? It's not your business so just stay out of it!" I snapped.

Ammy's gaze softened, and I felt my neck fur rising. I didn't want or need any help with this. "Listen, Ce-"

"Furball, Fluffy! I beat Scrap!" A voice yelled, and I gladly took the distraction, taking off through the terraced passage. I was relieved when I felt my paws touch the floor past the exit gate.

"You can't run from your problems forever." Ammy muttered under her breath to me before Issun, back to regular size, claimed her head as a perch once more.

"Watch me." I growled softly, knowing she wouldn't hear me. _I'm ditching this place as soon as we kick that fox wench's butt. It shouldn't even matter anymore._

The magical, amazing, friendly, logic-defying slip of paper Tobi pulled me out of my thoughts. "I must warn you now, good sirs. The true horror of the Labyrinth of Torment starts here. Perhaps it would be best if we turned back now."

"Getting' cold feet, aren't ya, scrap?" Issun chuckled smugly. "Now stop blabbing and let's get on with it!"

"I was hoping you would say that, good sir! The Passage of Saws lies ahead! This is where I get serious!"

"I vote Silver does this one!" Issun exclaimed.

My jaw dropped. "The stupid poncle suggests _what?_"

"You forced me to do the last one!"

"That one wasn't dangerous!"

"It had spikes."

"Yeah. A few. This one has saws."

"Issun, she doesn't have to do it if she doesn't want to." Ammy stepped in. But at the moment, I wasn't exactly happy with her, and I most certainly didn't want her help.

I narrowed my eyes and took a few steps back. "Ready, set, go!" I yelled, instantly taking off down the dangerous hallway. I was doing well until I reached the fifth saw. It was placed right after the fourth and I misjudged the distance. Long story short, I ended up colliding with the wood holding up the blade, tried to rush to the finish, failed, and the floor dropped from under me, somehow sending me back to the start. I stood up as quickly as I could, shaking out my fur.

"Celia! Are you okay?" Ammy asked in a concerned tone, rushing over to me. But I just pushed past the wolf goddess and ran off again. Unfortunately, the outcome was exactly the same as before, only this time the loss was caused simply by me not being fast enough.

"Celia, honestly. I don't think you can complete these races." Ammy told me, this time standing in front of the button protectively.

I glared at my friend. "Third time's the charm. Let me through."

"You're going to end up hurting yourself." She said, her tone turning slightly desperate, but it sounded fake to me. I wasn't a weakling and I wasn't stupid. I wasn't going to cut myself or anything on the blades. The second race was a lot scarier than this. I could make it if I tired.

"Sorry, Ammy," I said apologetically. "But I know what I'm doing, and I'll do it with or without your permission." I painted two horizontal lines and slipped past a surprised-looking Ammy, hitting the button on the ground and starting the race a third time. I couldn't tell if the brush technique affected Tobi at all. I was too focused on putting one paw in front of the other and not skidding into any walls. Of course, paying attention to those things and those things only distracted me from another equally important part of the race- the saws.

I yelped in pain when I felt something slice my back right leg. I stopped instantly to inspect the injury, letting Tobi pull ahead. It actually get me too bad, which I was immensely grateful for. It stung a little, but I figured I could ignore it for the time being and win the race next time, and I clung to that thought as I fell through the floor once again.

When I stood up to re-do the challenge, I realized my head felt kind of weird.

Something I'd learned from Nippon was that the whole health system was one giant mix 'n match of realistic life and video game life. I was a lot less likely to die from getting hit by imps than in the beginning of the adventure because of all the upgrades and sun fragment. This also worked as a pain tolerance system. When my life was getting low, I felt bad, like the natural beeping noise you normally hear in a game. Sickness didn't affect the health bar at all. Holy bones and spirit globes, on most occasions, healed me up instantly. But certain attacks or injuries affect a person in the way they normally should. Back when I was stabbed by the spider, that normally wouldn't even be worth a solar unit of damage, but taking into account I was impaled b a huge fang, I died nearly instantly. Another little thing to note is for most attacks, I could just tell how much damage it did. A third of a solar unit, two thirds, a whole unit, etc.

Even though it took me a while to notice, each failed race was costing me a unit of solar energy, as well as my normal energy, and my pain tolerance, although supposed to be equal to Ammy's, was actually a bit less. Which meant I had a little bit less than eight solar units left and I was starting to feel some of the side effects. And of course it didn't go unnoticed by my companions, judging by the fact that I was being pinned down by a frustrated sun goddess.

"Celia. We aren't kidding when we tell you to quit racing."

"She's right." Issun agreed. "We can tell you've been getting more tired each time. C'mon, Fluffy. Just let Ammy do the race."

I stayed still and quiet for a minute, contemplating my next move. I smiled inwardly when I figured out what to do. "Listen, you're both my friends," I started, my tail twitching at the thought of my next move. I waved it in a horizontal motion three times, trying to ignore the gasps coming from my friends as the wind flung them off of me like ragdolls. "But I've gotta do _something_ stupidly brave!" The wind seemed to clear my head from the earlier pain, if only slightly, and I took my few seconds of freedom to dash through the track once more. I bounded through the challenge, barely escaping most of the saws, but emerging relatively unscathed and finally victorious. I couldn't stop myself from laughing once the realization hit that I had actually won. Can't complete these races, my tail.

With the adrenaline still rushing through my veins and my heart pounding rapidly, I decided to start the next challenge by myself before Ammy and Issun realized they could go through the track. Two races in a row. That'd show 'em that once I have my sights set on something, I never give up.

"Okay, logic-defying paper, just cut to the chase, please. I wanna race already!" I barked quickly, my eyes narrowed in gleeful, good-natured determination. "I can handle anything you throw at me!"

"What a fine race you run, good sir." Tobi praised. "But I cannot bear to lose again. It is a matter of personal honor!"

"Same here, buddy. Sorry, but you're goin' down!" I warned him, my tail wagging excitedly.

"Well, shall we? The passage of demonic wheels awaits!"

I'll admit, the name threw me off my game a bit. I looked down the hallway and stared for a second at the two huge spiked wheels moving back and forth, leaving only a tiny space to evade the sharp edges.

I shook my head and crouched won, preparing to sprint through the hallway as fast as possible. I wasn't going to back down now. Besides, the look on Ammy and Issun's faces would be priceless once I finished this.

_For Narnia! And Aslan! _I thought, trying to add a little humor to the situation. _No…For Nippon! And Shiranui!_ And with those words in mind, I was off.

I, of course, made an unlucky mistake on my first try. I went too far to the right and ended up cutting my shoulder. I shook it off and tired to regain ground, but made the exact same mistake as before, this time getting a pretty big scratch on my side. But I refused to give up, even though Tobi had already passed the corner, and still ran through the passage. I managed to make it past the third set of wheels, as well as the next two, but by the time I reached the steps, my time was up. The floor opened up and I fell back to the start, three solar units short of what I had before.

"Five solar units left. That's more than I started with at the beginning of all this. I'll be fine." I muttered to myself, ignoring the tiredness I was now feeling. "Ammy and Issun aren't here yet. I can still prove to them I can do this." For some reason, I couldn't feel the two injuries I had sustained anymore. They were both bleeding, but the adrenaline still going through my system was keeping the pain at bay.

"Let's try this again." I said out loud, trying my hand at the race once more. I safely made it past the first four wheels, but my thoughts of victory were thwarted by that stupid fifth wheel. I got yet another cut on my back, Tobi pulled ahead, and I was left to fall back to the start.

The tiredness I had felt increased even more after that, not to mention I couldn't ignore the pain anymore. Well, so much for adrenaline. The back of my mind called out to Ammy, to have her arrive and take over, but the stubborn side of me refused to accept defeat, especially in the insulting form of _paper._

_Whatever brush god is listening, give me strength._ I sent up a silent prayer before charging back into the hallway of evil wheels. First wheel, fine. Second, same. Third? Let's just say more pain was added to the growing list of it. Fourth was fine as well. At the fifth, my heart sped up as I realized I might win the race. I was in front. All I had to do was climb the stairs…

But life is cruel, and I was passed while climbing up said stairs, eyes widening in shock as I watched the flaming scrap of paper fly faster than I could jump. My jaw dropped as the stairs just turned into a ramp and I slid towards the non-existent floor and back to the start.

I would've been cursing up a storm, had I not been left with low health. Low meaning one solar unit left. The fatigue and pain was almost overwhelming, and I thought about grabbing a holy bone M. But still, my friends hadn't arrived yet. If I brought something out of our inventory, especially a healing item, they'd come rushing in without hesitation. That was the last thing I wanted. I needed to take advantage of the situation while I still had the head start.

"I've still got two astral pouches." I tried to convince myself, although saying aloud I was probably going to use one was a scary thought, especially after the emperor's palace. "And a crapton of golden peaches. C'mon, Celia. You can do this."

I faced the obstacle course ahead with bared fangs and narrowed eyes with a furious and determined glint in them. My ears were flattened against my head, not in embarrassment, but in anger. Being killed by a paper and a few spiked wheels? Oh, heck no. I sure as heck wouldn't let that happen.

"See ya at the next race, Tobi!" I yelled and made an absolute mad dash through the passageway. I reached the slip at the first wheel, passed him on the second, and held my lead until the end.

Relief and joy flooded through my for five seconds before the exhaustion and pain caught up with me. Not to mention a slap to the face from realization.

_I only have one solar unit of energy and I completed a race while bleeding from four different injuries._

"Oh cra-"

And then I blacked out.

(Time Skip: SEE? SEE WHAT I MEAN? IT'S OVER-USED! SO BADLY OVE-)


	27. Who loves nearly dying?

Okay, I was planning to upload this chapter this morning, but the document manager was being all weird, so I planned to do it at school. I forgot to do that once I got there. *stupid!desi* Luckily for you guys, the document manager is still whacked out, so I don't have the patience to write out a long author's note. Thanks to all who reviewed, you get to go to cookie island, we're giving out free portal guns to all who arrive, yada yada, have a nice day. Oh, and I don't own Okami or Okamiden.

...oh, of course, NOW the document manager decides to be kind. -.-

* * *

><p>Chapter 24- Who loves nearly dying?<p>

"Celia! Don't scare us like that again!" Ammy yelled. Long story short, I woke up, my friends totally flipped out at the sight of my injuries, they practically shoved a holy bone m down my throat, and now that the whole moment of relief and happiness was over, my suspicion of getting a tongue lashing was being proved correct.

"Calm down, Ammy." I rolled my eyes in exasperation, even though I knew her reason for worry was well-justified. "I'm totally fine now. And besides, we have two full astral pouches."

"Astral pouches or not, you're being way too reckless! You shouldn't push yourself that hard!" Ammy's tail was completely still, instead of waving slowly like normal. I could sense the rage coming from her in waves. "One race was difficult enough for you. But then you went and completed the next one while we weren't there to watch you. Do you need to be babysat to make sure you don't get yourself killed?"

I felt the fur on my neck rise and stood up, my eyes narrowed in fury. "Oh, look who's talking! You're the last person who should be lecturing me on staying alive!"

The whole room seemed to go quiet. I felt unease starting to poke at me, but I pushed it away. I was just saying the truth, and Ammy was being a hypocrite.

The wolf goddess soon found her voice again, albeit sounding a bit shaky. "I'm just trying to help, Celia. You have to expect the unexpected. What if one of the astral pouches doesn't work?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, do I need to remind you of the incident back at the emperor's palace?" I snarled back, although my voice was wavering as well when I thought back to that moment. "And 'I'm just trying to help'? Who do you think you are, my mom? I was just trying to be useful while I waited for you two to get through the hallway, since you seemed to be taking your sweet time! But obviously, I can see that you think of me as a burden and I shouldn't even be here!"

Ammy's eyes widened and she took a step towards me. "Celia, we-"

"Save it!" I snapped and ran past her, right into the next race. I thought it would be a really fast sprint to the finish line, but Tobi was flying like the room was filled with jell-o. I only had a second to wonder why before the battle barrier came up and three headless guardians appeared.

_I don't have time for this! _I thought, exasperated. I felt like I was racing against Ammy and Issun, not Tobi. I just wanted to put some distance between us so I could think. I pulled an exorcism slip m out of inventory and didn't hesitate to use it. The enemies were dead in a second and I waited by the edge of the barrier, running through the gate as soon as it went down.

I just kept running up the steps and barely paused when I saw the next obstacle- narrow pathways and a crapton of lasers. I narrowed my eyes and dashed headfirst into the insanity.

I used veil of mist and powerslashed one of the laser-shooting statues, giving me enough time to run to a safe platform. This was actually just a wash, rinse, repeat type of thing, and that was really all I did to get through the entire thing. By the time I reached the end, I saw Ammy just starting the maze of lasers and, with a huff, I ran through a golden gate and into the next room. It ended being one of those 'empty' rooms with a hidden battle. Ryoshima Coast's version of Frank added in just to make my life miserable for no extra charge!

_Maybe I should've waited for Ammy,_ I thought, fear starting to grow. The last time I fought one of these things wasn't fun, and although I was sick, I had Ammy with me and the enemy was still tough to take down. Staring up at it, knowing I was alone, I just hoped I wouldn't have to use an astral pouch.

The first thing I tried was inferno. That did squat. I raked my brain for an offensive brush technique that would work, and figuring there weren't any, I opted to attacking with my weapon, getting hit when the Frank threw his first attack. Standing up and ignoring the water in my fur, I narrowed my eyes at the monster. Strangely enough, its next two attacks, fireballs, didn't even come close to hitting me, instead sailing right over my head and colliding with the ground behind me, giving me the opportunity to attack with my weapon again, using veil of mist quite a few times to help me out while the confused enemy just circled around the area, trying to spot me. Once I realized the Frank was almost finished, it just had to use its invincible form.

I grit my teeth and glared at the oncoming monster, prepared to dodge any and all of its attacks. Or so I thought. Electricity surrounded its body and, being too close, the lightning zapped me as well, freezing me in one place. And that was rather pointless, because not a second afterwards, I was somehow hit with the exact same attack, throwing my paralyzed body do the ground. I sucked in a breath when I hit the small pool of water in the middle of the area, little bits of electricity still painfully buzzing through me. For two solar units of damage, that really freaking hurt! I still forced myself to get back onto my feet as fast as I could, thinking about what other attacks I could be subjected to if I stayed down.

Luckily for me, the Frank seemed content with that, and reverted back to its normal form. I put all my strength into my last attack, if only to get a little revenge for that small combo, and practically glomped the spirit globe that I received after the fight was over. It wasn't enough to heal me completely, so I decided to use a holy bone s, hoping that the others wouldn't notice. I didn't have any visible damage, granted, but I wanted to be at full health just in case. Not only was I unsure of what lay ahead in the dungeon, but Ammy _did_ seem to have a weird sixth sense for whenever I was hurt.

Speaking of Ammy, said sun goddess came into the room as soon as I finished the holy bone. I don't know why, but I felt an instant sense of relief wash over me, all from one battle with a Frank. As cheesy and little-kids-show sounding this is, I think I kind of realized I didn't want to go through the dungeon alone. I was lucky to have Ammy and Issun to help me through Oni Island. We needed to step up with our strengths and let the others help us with our weaknesses to reach the fox as quickly as possible. I may have thought I was helping before, but what I was really doing was making myself, and our whole group, weaker.

Annoying cliché moment over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled OACA. Thank you for your patience.

"Hey, Ammy!" I said, running over to her. She seemed a bit surprised by my sudden change in attitude, but didn't comment. "Listen, I'm sorry I blew up like that. I've been thinking, and I realize I made a stupid decision. Please forgive me?" I gave her the best puppy dog eyes I could make.

Ammy just laughed, amusement clear in her eyes. "I think I can do that. Issun?"

The poncle jumped onto my head, and an involuntary smile forced its way onto my face. "Yup! Good to see ya not all angry anymore. We thought you were PMSing or something."

"Issun!" I growled, but I still couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

"Let's just keep going. We're not done yet." Ammy suggested, walking through the sliding paper doors in front of us, me quickly following after. We quickly came to another door blocked by a lockjaw and, a few feet away from that, another race.

"None of my comrades have ever made it this far! It would appear you are not opponents to be taken lightly." Tobi commented, an impressed tone in his voice. "But I have had enough! It shall all end here! I, Tobi, shall risk it all in the passage of needles!"

We were all quiet for a moment before I spoke up. "…it's just a long hallway with two saws."

"The way he's talking about it makes it sound dangerous." Ammy pointed out.

I heard Issun clap his hands together. "So, who wants to risk it all alongside Scrap?"

I only had to think for a second before saying in determination, "I'll do it." I noticed the look I was being given by Ammy. "Hey, after all that, I think I'm officially the reckless one of the group. This is_ my_ job." I told her with a confident grin. "I promise I won't push myself like I did before."

Ammy was quiet for a second before giving a slightly uncertain nod. "All right."

"Woo hoo!" Issun cheered. "All right, Fluffy! You ready for this?"

"Definitely!" I replied in excitement as I backtracked all the way to the room with the Frank. I turned around, facing the paper doors, narrowing my eyes at them as well as putting a most likely over-confident smirk on my face. "Are _you_ ready for this?"

Issun unsheathed Denkomaru. "You bet!"

"Chaaarge!" I yelled aloud, doing just that. I flew past the paper doors, made a sharp left at the origin mirror, and passed another door before turning one last time and starting the race. After I jumped over the firs saw, the panic started.

"Celia!" Ammy shouted from the start.

"Needles!" Issun freaked at the same moment I realized spikes had come out of the walls and were closing in. I grit my teeth and mentally screamed at my legs to go faster, jumping over another saw and making it to the finish line.

I stood, gasping, at the end of the race, my lungs now screaming at me to give them more air. I just focused on taking deep breaths until Ammy made her way through the passage.

"Are you two okay?" She questioned, looking at us with concern.

"I'm good!" Issun answered, bouncing happily on my head.

"Same here." I gave a small nod. "At least this wall wasn't part of the race." Issun bombed said wall and we went through the hole to the roof of the building.

"Whoa!" Our poncle yelled out in shock.

I rolled my eyes and started walking to the other side where, sure enough, there was a catwalk statue. "Calm down. It's not like we're going to fall or anything." I told him as I climbed the wall and jumped onto the next section of the roof.

Ammy followed me up, walking past me and grabbing a lockjaw key. "Shef wite."

I laughed softly at my friend's speech while she held the key and followed her back down to the lower part of the roof and back through the hole into the building. We had a lot more time to make it though the now needle-less passage of needles, which I was immensely grateful for.

Behind the lockjaw door was a long hallway, a booby-trapped treasure chest, another hallway, and an ominous-looking door leading outside. The decoration definitely caught our attention, to say the least.

"Now that's one fierce-looking statue!" Issun commented, referring to a huge tiger with a bow and lightning bolts for arrows. I have to admit, I agreed with the poncle. "Look at how it's roaring up at the storm clouds. It's as if it's ready to leap up and take a bite outta the moon! But here's the problem. There's an enormous bow, but now arrows. The lack of a crucial element spells disaster for any masterpiece."

"Okay, Issun. Don't hurt yourself with too many big words." I teased, although good-naturedly this time.

"Hey!" He yelled, but he knew there was no real offense intended. (For once in our lives.)

While we were in our fake little argument, Ammy used rejuvenation and made the tiger's lightning arrow appear. It cackled with electricity before shooting off into the sky, hitting the clouds and knocking them away, allowing us to see a piece of the night sky.

"Wow! The arrow blew away the storm clouds!" Issun gasped. The pattern of the constellation that was now shining reminded me of, I kid you not, a stick person running around stupidly. Yeah, I'll admit, I have a strange mind. I made the stars for the feet while Ammy made the stars for the left hand and chest, and then a tiger appeared, growling loudly as the arena changed to the typical golden landscape. He put another lightning arrow into his bow, pulsing with electricity like the last one, and let it loose, sending it flying towards us. We jumped out of the way of three arrows before the tiger gave up, jumping down to where we were and letting out a huge growl.

"Ah, Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…the evil forces which swell here had sealed me away…but your arrival awakened me and restored the light within. You who walk the same battle field as I, Gekigami, god of thunder, deserve the power of lightning. Use it to crush our foes!"

"At last, the 12th god, Gekigami!" Issun exclaimed once we were back on Oni Island "Thunderstorm, the fearsome brush technique for controlling thunder, is his trademark. I'm sure you two can master that one! I mean, it belonged to you once, Ammy!" He paused for a second before continuing. "I know! See that sword statue over there? Try striking it with a bolt of lightning! When you see lightning shooting from the storm cloud, simply draw a line connecting it to the statue! That'll guide the lightning down to the target! Go on, give that sword statue a good zap!" He encouraged. I stepped aside and let Ammy try out the brush technique first. When the lightning hit the statue, the door next to it opened up. "Awesome! A lightning strike like that will zap an enemy real good! Oh, hey! It looks like your lightning strike opened that door!"

I rolled my eyes. Of course.

"I wonder if it's controlled by some electrical mechanism or something. That was a freebie! Let's head for the top of the castle with our new technique!" He paused, and I noticed his unease, as did Ammy.

"Issun, what's wrong?" She questioned. I shared her concern.

"Ammy, Silver…" He trailed. "There's only one more of those Celestial Brush techniques to go. Once you get that one…I will have seen all the techniques." It took me a second to realize what he meant. I guess he _did_ say he'd only stay to collect the brush techniques, but…after everything we'd all been through together, I guess I started to think he'd stay with us after that…then again, _I_ was planning to leave soon, as well… I suddenly shared his sadness. And it was a kick in the chest. "Won't be much longer now…but this is not time to shoot the breeze! We should get goin'!"

"R-right." I agreed, somewhat hesitantly, and we continued down the path. At the next sword statue, I was the one to activate it, causing the previously vertical platform to slowly spin counter-clockwise. As soon as we could, we jumped onto the platform and dashed across it, barely making it to the other side.

"Jeez, you two!" Issun gasped. "Y'know we have veil of mist, right?"

"Veil of mist is for sissies." I replied with a tiny smirk. "Oh, hey! A clover!" I dashed over to the glowing green spot in front of us and began digging, watching all the praise orbs that appeared after Issun bloomed it.

Ammy, ignoring the conversation about fifty praise clover, just rolled her eyes and pushed me through the door and back inside the building, ignoring my protests that I could walk perfectly fine by myself. After passing a golden gate, we came to a treasure chest with a sword sticking out of the top and a lightning symbol on it. Issun, surprisingly enough, figured out what to do fairly quickly, using the small electricity-generating machine on the ceiling to try his hand at thunderstorm. The metal chest opened to give us an exorcism slip l. How it fit in a chest, let alone one that small, was beyond me.

At the end of the hallway was a tiny circular room with a crack in the floor. Ammy took the hint and cherry bombed it, causing the entire floor to crumble and us to fall quite a long way down. Thankfully, due to video game- and Nippon- logic, no wolves or poncles were harmed from said fall. I powerslashed a suspicious-looking scroll, which resulted in a pathway being opened to us.

"Hey, I remember these from the beginning!" Issun commented. "Y'know, back in the room with the first key!"

"We also decided not to touch them." Ammy reminded.

"Well…" I trailed. "That was when they were above a giant pit. These aren't!" And with that, I ran into the hallway, Ammy following my lead. At the end, we found an electricity-generating key. That seemed rather convenient. (Then again, it was a video game. Of course it was convenient.)

"Hm? Wonder if that's a key. Pretty strange looking one if it is."

"Issun, this is Nippon. We've definitely seen stranger."

"…true. But ya gotta be careful about what you pick up. I mean, who knows what might happen? You might get zapped or something. Don't say I didn't warn ya!"

Ammy grabbed the key before I did, which kind of bummed me out. This may sound insane, but I was beginning to like my new job being the reckless one. Because, hey, at least I'd have a valid excuse whenever I got hurt.

As soon as Ammy had the key in her mouth, a few of the yellow triangles around us made a strange noise and a lightning bolt appeared on them. That, of course, caused Issun to make yet another winning observation.

"Whoa, what's up with these contraptions? They lit up in a weird pattern! I wonder if it has anything to do with that little gizmo you just picked up…I sure hope it's not gonna trigger some kinda trap."

"Someone's paranoid." I commented as we made our way back down the passage.

"Just bein' careful!" Issun retorted.

I started climbing up the electric stairs in front of us. "Right." I laughed before opening up the next door with the electricity from our key.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothi-" The battle barrier appearing stopped me mid-word, but I smirked when I saw the one headless guardian that appeared. Cackling like an absolute madwoman, I continuously zapped the monster until it fell over, dead.

"Um…Silver…?" Issun trailed, sounding a little scared.

"Calm down, bug boy, and let me have my fun while we still have this key."

Ammy just shook her head and put down said key to read the sign in front of us. "The Labyrinth of Torment: Sliding Doors of Hell. How to play:  
>1: Go through one door, and you'll be surrounded by more. Run up, down, all round to your heart's content.<br>2: Due to repeated use, there are cracks in some walls. Do not even think about using any kind of explosive on them.  
>3: The Labyrinth of Torment is for the enjoyment of everyone on Oni Island, so try not to cause any trouble for others."<p>

We all exchanged glances.

"This…will be interesting."

(Time Skip: About another hour later…)

"It should not have taken us that long."

"I told you we shouldn't have split up!"

"We were together half the time!"

"And yet we still couldn't get out."

"If you would've just listened to me, we wouldn't have taken that long getting through!"

"Just shut up."

All peace treaties we had mutually agreed on had been thrown out the window to make way for arguments. Yes, we just can't get along. A few minutes of peace, maybe, but nothing official. We were still bickering about it after we had unlocked the main path in the first room of the dungeon, raising our voices to be heard above the loud machines that lined the pathway."

'Whoa!" Issun exclaimed, switching topics instantly. "Now that's what I call a statue!" Referring to a statue of a monster holding up a sword. "Too bad it's wasted on the no-good monsters here. Still, there's just something not right about it. Especially that raised sword there. I've seen Seven Strike, the legendary 7-pronged sword,"

"Which is stuffed in our inventory, most likely never to be touched again."

"But never a 9-pronged sword!" Of course I was ignored. "Now what do we do next?"

I rolled my eyes. "The answer, idiot, is actually quite simple." I double jumped onto a small archway to get a good view, then used a key that was stuck on the ceiling for whatever reason to electrocute the sword, which resulted in the entire statue exploding and revealing the next passageway. "Tada."

"Good job, Celia." Ammy praised.

"Thanks." I smiled as we went down the flight of stairs and right into…

"Dear Kazegami in a sake drinking contest! Not another light change!"

Yes, that happened, too, but it's not exactly what I was referring to. Once we had gone into the room, the door closed behind us, locking us in. Warning sirens went off, light changes occurred every second, eyeballs appeared, and lava started making its way up to us.

"Yikes!" Issun exclaimed. "Ammy! Silver! What did you do this time?"

"How is this our fault?" I yelled.

"Better think of something quick!"

The second the words had escaped Issun's mouth, Ammy commanded, "Powerslash the eyes!" We all obeyed instantly. Issun got the two furthest away, Ammy got the two closest to us, and I spotted one out of the corner of my eye hiding behind us. With three synchronized slashes, the lava receded, and we were allowed to move forward.

"Is it just me, or does this feel like a digging minigame?" I questioned randomly.

"Digging minigame." Ammy answered before we started running.

All right, translation for anyone who's playing along to this for whatever reason, this meant 2D gameplay. It actually _did_ feel a bit different than normal, but I could live with it.

"I can see everything~"

Bragging Issun, I might get fed up with.

Once we reached the end of the hallway, there was another ceiling key and a small sword below it. It was obvious what we had to do. Once the sword had been zapped, more lights came on in the room and all the machinery came to life, including the rotating platform, which we used to get up to the next floor. We ran to the right, went up another platform, broke two pots, and stopped at a lock with an unlit light bulb.

"Hey, wasn't one of these things back in the main room?" Issun asked. "And we needed one of those lightning keys to make it work!"

"Thank you for reminding us of something that happened less than five minutes ago. Honestly, I'm impressed by your memory. If I had hands, I'd be clapping."

"Shut up, Silver." Issun grumbled as Ammy and I went left, being careful not to run face first into the platform filled with sharpened bamboo shoots of death. Catwalk was used to reach a higher, smaller platform, which was then used to get the key. But right after we grabbed it and started to backtrack, we were interrupted.

"Wait, you two!" Issun told us.

"What now? Do you want to point out this key allows us to use thunderstorm whenever we'd like?" I snapped.

"No! Just double jump to the left."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"Bossy." I muttered, although I'll admit, I wasn't expecting for my paws to hit solid ground that soon. I glanced backwards at where the key had been resting in confusion. "How did you-?"

"I can see everything~" He reminded in a sing-song tone. "Now jump to the right."

"You can see more than us, but we're not blind." I growled irritably.

"Double jump."

We did so, and two vines wrapped around us, pulling us up onto a Konahana Blossom. We repeated this and jumped to the right, and waiting for us at the end of the hallway was a treasure chest.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but way to go, Issun!"

"Wait. There's a pit in front of it." He warned us. "Jump over those boards." Once we did that, we earned ourselves a pearl. Not the greatest prize, but I won't complain over 5,000 yen. We went down the pit as a shortcut back to where the key was found, (And also because it was an awesome slide.) and Issun instructed us to double jump to the left again. After the treasure we had just obtained, I wasn't prepared to argue with him. We went down the hallway, avoiding a trap, before getting stuck.

"There's the chest…" Issun trailed. "But how're we gonna get past this hole without getting his by those spikes?"

I was quiet for a second before smirking. "Run before you think!" I closed my eyes and dashed across the tap, amazingly making it across unscathed.

"All right Silver!" Issun cheered as I claimed a large exorcism slip for our inventory.

"Let's go." I said with a smile, walking into the trap. But as soon as I started falling, my eyes widened in fear and I stretched out as far as I could, my head and back legs pressing against opposite sides. Below me was a room filled with spikes and skeletons. "Gah!"

"Silver! You okay?" I heard Issun ask.

"If you consider being less than ten feet away from death okay, then yeah, I'm perfect!" I growled. I didn't mean to sound so rude, but I was more concerned with staying alive.

"What's wrong?" I heard Ammy's concerned voice. She must've put the key down.

"Death spikes!" I answered frantically, eyes closed in concentration. "Help? Please?"

"Don't worry, Silver! We'll think of a way to get you out of there!"

"Hurry!" I yelled. I drowned out my friends' frantic exchange of ideas, trying to focus on something, anything other than the sharpened bamboo shots and skulls below me. My heart raced, and my head and legs ached as I continued to stretch myself as far as I could to evade gravity. Being impaled by a spider's fang wasn't fun the first time. Judging by all the spikes, this would be ten times worse.

Despite my efforts, I felt myself starting to slip. "Ammy! Issun!" I yelled out in panic. My heart was pounding rapidly and my ears were pressed flat against my head.

"Celia!"

"Hold on, Fluffy!"

"I-I can't!" I whimpered.

"Okay, drop and wall jump!" Issun commanded.

"YOU WANT ME TO DROP?" I stretched out further, trying to buy myself a few more seconds.

"Just trust me! Leap before you think, right?"

I grit my teeth and pulled my back legs in front of me, grabbing onto the wall for a second before pushing off. Only my front legs made it to the top, but Ammy grabbed me and pulled me out of the pit. I collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, my heart pounding faster than ever. I was so relieved to be out of there.

"That was a close one." I commented once I caught my breath.

"Good to see you're okay, Fluffy!" Our poncle jumped onto my head and I felt him hugging my ear.

"Thanks, Issun."

Ammy spoke up again. "Let's try not to have any more near deaths, please."

"Aww. But I think of it as a sport." I joked.

"All right, you two! Let's move it! We still have that fox wench to take care of!"

"Right."

"Let's go."

(Time Skip: Back at the lock…)

"I seriously wonder how the keys jump out of your mouth and into the lock."

"It's convenient."

"It's downright creepy."

"So, who's gonna deal the last blow to the fox wench? I bet 20,000 yen on Ammy." Issun wagered.

"No way! It's gonna be me!" I huffed indignantly. "Ammy'll get the first hit, though."

"Low self-esteem?" Ammy commented.

"Nah. Just going by the logic that a goddess is more powerful than a teenage girl."

"She has a point." Issun said

"Did you just agree with me? Who died?"

"You? Nearly?" Ammy suggested with an innocent smile.

"Oh, shut up. How was I supposed to know it was a freaking death pit?" I pointed out, powerslashing a row of spikes that had popped up in front of us.

"Hey, you two! Look at that!" Issun changed the topic. "Well, this looks like fun."

"What is it?"

He jumped off my head and used the Lucky Mallet to grow to full size. "It's a bunch of circle platforms with holes in them spinning around." He informed, putting the mallet away. "Now who wants to race?" He asked with a smirk.

Ammy and I shared a glance. "You're on!"

Insults were flung, taunts were anything but uncommon, fails were frequent, laughter was heard, bad words were exclaimed, rules were broken, friends were pushed down pits by other friends, brush techniques were abused, unfair advantages appeared everywhere, and fights popped up more than acne on an unlucky teenager's face, but in the end, there could only be one victor. And one loser. And that person that neither wins nor loses so no one really cares about them.

"First!" Ammy called, leaping for the hallway.

I tackled Issun, sending him flying through a hole, before running after. "Second!"

"No fair!" Issun complained once he had made it to the top.

"All's fair in love and war~" I taunted. "And besides, how is using galestorm to slow me down considered fair?"

"All right," Ammy stepped in between us. "Issun, you can use the lucky mallet again now. And both of you, quick bickering like a married couple."

"We don't bicker like a married couple!" We exclaimed at the same time.

"Right." Ammy laughed, then ran off, forcing us to follow.

(Time Skip: I honestly have nothing to say.)

"Can someone explain why that laser is so close to that origin mirror?"

"Can someone explain how that laser hasn't destroyed that pot yet?"

"Can someone explain why the floor is so shiny? Heh heh. Shiiinyyy~"

And those were our opinions on the next area of Oni Island.

All stupid comments aside, we quickly retrieved a key, found the most horribly placed dungeon map in all of existence, (out of the way under a staircase. Because everyone would think to look there!) walked across a bunch of lightning tiles, found another chest on our left, powerslashed a pot, and accidentally zapped a pot before…

"_Can someone explain how that spider is so freaking huge?"_

"Can someone explain why this is quickly becoming a running gag?"

"A what? Now I'm confused."

"As am I." *

Ammy got us both to shut up by using veil of mist. I got the hint and jumped past the spider onto the highest tile platform. Once we were both there, Ammy dropped the key and we fell to the shiny floor. I opened a treasure chest while Ammy ditched the lightning key for a lockjaw one instead. Then Issun cherry bombed a wall, allowing us to get into the next room and kill a lockjaw.

"Still creepy."

"Convenient."

"Creepy."

"Hey!" Issun exclaimed. "Let's use that Konahana Blossom to get across that pit of poison water! We can grab the lightning key again and run across the tiles, then we'll have the key to use in the future!"

"Issun…" I paused. "The number of good ideas you've been giving us in this dungeon alone is starting to concern me."

"I have my moments!"

"Though they are few and far between." I mumbled with a smirk.

Long story short, we did everything Issun said plus a genocide of pots. Once we went up the next flight of stairs, the poncle freaked out over another color change as Ammy went to go open up a lightning chest. Once that was all said and done, we ran into a character we hadn't seen in a while.

"S-sirs?" Tobi stuttered, obviously surprised to see us.

"Hey, buddy! We almost forgot about you!" I grinned.

"So, you have made it this far, have you? I must tell you, good sirs, the time for fun and games is over. For it is my sworn duty to stand guard here. But, during our competition- Oh, how shall I put it…I became rather fond of you, good sirs. The sight of you both, risking your lives in gallant charge…that is something I simply must see again! Heh heh…have I failed as a gatekeeper for saying so?"

Issun was uncharacteristically quiet at the direct question, so I answered, even though I knew he couldn't hear me.

"Of course you aren't, Tobi." I don't know if it was the fact that he wasn't nearly as cocky as before, or maybe it was the fact that he had finally warmed up to us, but I felt myself starting to like the slip of paper as well.

"So, you see, good sirs…I wish to live a life of competition! To come this far only to give up? No, that is not me. I care not if I am a failure as a gatekeeper. Let us make this a race for the ages!"

"Who wants to go next?" Issun questioned.

"Uh…not it." I said.

"What? You don't want to be the reckless one anymore?" Ammy teased with a smile.

I shook my head. "No way, I love my job! But I think you proved you're the fastest out of all of us…no matter how much cheating went on during that race." I got both of my friends to laugh at that.

"All right, I'll go, then." Ammy said, and a second later, she was off and running. After about a minute, Issun and I decided it was safe to go on ahead, and we quickly made our way up to our friend.

"Big, empty rom." The wolf goddess said in mock excitement as she sat in front of a sliding door. "5,000 yen says we've got a fight on our hands. Any takers?"

"I think I'll keep my money." Issun commented.

"Even though we all share so it doesn't matter in the first place?" I pointed out with a laugh.

"Yup."

"Well, fight, here we come!"

"Chaaarge!"

The barrier went up, and we came face to mask with two ogres.

"Great! What the heck am I supposed to do?" I questioned.

"I take the red one, you take the blue. Get behind it, attack it, make sure to use veil of mist. Powerslash when it's dazed and you should be fine." Ammy quickly informed me. "Go!"

The fight really wasn't that hard when it was two against two, although I'm not sure if Issun stabbing the ogres with his toothpick of a sword did much. But hey, at least after the fight we got to admire the pretty huge flowers the ogres left behind for a second before continuing onward. We passed through some more sliding doors, used the amazing lightning tiles to get across a small pit of poison water, and used a catwalk statue to climb up a wall. Which also had a pit of poison water. After that, we just had to jump down (pointless wall is pointless) and use veil of mist to slip under another abnormally huge blocking spider.

"Empty room."

"Fight."

The battle barrier went up.

"Called it."

I would love to say we didn't cheat and use the lightning key to quickly dispose of the three headless guardians, but that would be a total lie. We all took turns abusing our new power.

But hey, we all know in life you reap what you sow and karma can be brutal. We weren't meant to reach the top of that tower for some time, because our heaping plate of this rule of life came in the form of…

"Ga-ha! I am Blockhead!"

"Oooh dear Shiranui."

"I guard this place so that all shall pass! Er, wait…make that, none shall pass!"

"Tobi is ten times better than you."

"Agreed."

"Oh, you again…" Issun grumbled. "You really want me to keep picking at your weak points?"

"What are you talking about? Ahem…now, where was I? Oh, yes…you are the terrible assassins who have been slaying my brethren! The white and silver demons of death!"

"Wow. News gets out quickly among walls." I commented.

Issun chuckled. "Looks like you two got new nicknames!"

"I foresaw your coming."

"Methinks someone's been spending just a little too much time around Waka."

"I am the shadowy ruler of Oni Island!"

"You are one very deformed fox."

"Be warned! I am far different from my brethren!"

"Well, yeah. You live the secret life of a fox. I'm sure not many blockheads can say that."

"Though you may be the white and silver demons of death, you cannot slay me!

"What are you going to do? Have ten weak points and dub yourself Blockhead Grande or something?"

"Seems realistic enough."

"Now, be on your away! You shall not pass!"

"Darn. I was about to congratulate him on being the first to say 'you shall not pass,' but the whole 'away' thing kinda ruined it."

"Wow. That was a pretty long string of sarcastic comments." Ammy said, impressed. "Haven't seen one like that in a while."

"And let me just say, _it felt awesome!"_

"Just kill the wall, you two." Issun commanded.

(Time Skip: 42 attempts later…am I the only one who sees the reference in that?)

"Oh my! So that's the true power of the white and silver demons of death!"

"Yeah. Don't mess with us."

"It took you fo-"

"Shut up, Issun."

"You so easily struck at my weak points."

"There were only fi-"

"Forty-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

"And after I trained so hard to cover them up, too…"

"You know, I seriously wonder how they train for something like this."

"I, Blockhead, submit to defeat."

"Which is why we will never run into a talking wall with ten weak points named Blockhead Grande."

"Exactly."

"Still, I am the shadowy ruler of Oni Island."

"Are you positive? You look way different than you were back at Himiko's Palace."

"Do not dishonor me, at least in my hour of death." All right, I just couldn't bring myself to say anything after that line. I enjoy using sarcasm, not bringing shame to people while they die. "I shall succumb to oblivion with honor!"

And with that, he exploded, and we took ten steps before running into Tobi.

"I am indeed no match for you, good sirs." He told us. "Your eyes, ever focused on tomorrow, have led you to the climax."

_Did he just break the fourth wall?...Then again, the waitress back at Yama's restaurant did it. I shouldn't be surprised. _

"Of course, I do not mean our petty little races. O mighty warriors who seek the castle's summit on Oni Island…the true climax of your adventure is close at hand. Tobi never felt such competitive fire until you, good sirs! Though I cannot join you, I shall send you off with a final dash!"

"Scrap…" Issun trailed uncertainly.

"All right, good sirs!" Tobi said before Issun could speak again. "Now for the race to end them all! Make it one that I shall never forget!"

"No problem, Tobi." I stepped forward, narrowing my eyes in determination. "Let me handle this one, Ammy." My friend nodded and I stepped on the button, immediately afterwards placing a cherry bomb near the wall on the other side of the room and unintentionally giving Tobi the head start. I clenched my teeth as I waited for it to explode, and as soon as it did, I seized the chance to use the Konahana Blossom it had uncovered. But for some reason, I was trapped against the wall, forced to wait once again until the vine disappeared. I was running right alongside Tobi as I jumped over a small gap and to the finish line, pulling ahead just enough to finish the race.

"Truly amazing, good sir!" He exclaimed. "I am so glad we could part like this. I hope my final dash pleased you, good sir."

"Heh heh. You're not half bad for a scrap of paper." Issun commented as I noticed Ammy walk up beside me. "And even though you're an enemy, I guess I should commend you!"

"I feel so very fortunate to have such great men as yourselves witness my final moment…"

"Wait, what?" I questioned.

Issun cut him off. "Hey, hey, Scrap! Why ya talkin' like you're about to vanish at any second?"

"I have violated the precepts and shall thusly be erased." Tobi answered simply. "So it is I who must bid you farewell. I shall now accept my fate for abandoning my duty as a gatekeeper."

"Y-you mean…"

"Oh, don't be sorry for me, good sirs! This was the life of my own choosing. I treasured it, and no one can ever take that away from me. Though I may have been a mere servant of spirits, I should at least be allowed to do what I please at my passing, for otherwise, my life would have been in vain!" Those were some powerful words for a piece of paper. I think I was actually close to crying. "I fear I shall not be able to guide you the rest of the way. I wish I had a bouquet of flowers to present you at this farewell. But, alas, I must part with you empty handed. Please forgive me. Farewell, good sirs. And good luck…!"

With those final words, the flames around Tobi's body went out and he floated gently to the ground. He disappeared, a small yellow flower, sprouting from where he had landed, and after a few seconds it disappeared, leaving no trace except a few lingering sparkles that floated away in the wind.

"Tobi…" Issun trailed sadly. "It was more than just a petty little race. Perhaps we wouldn't even have gotten this far without you. With that true spirit of competition you showed us, we can now face the biggest challenge of our lives so far!"

I felt like I should say something as well. "You abandoned your purpose just to help us and do what you loved. I don't know when you assured your own death, but despite the bad stuff that happened during some of those races, thank you. For everything."

"You were more than just a scrap of paper or a gatekeeper to Oni Island." Ammy spoke gently. "If by no one else, you will be remembered by us, no matter what happens. Rest in peace, Tobi."

We were all silent for a minute before continuing forward. It was a quiet journey up the stairs until we reached the very top.

"You feel that weird vibe this place is givin' off, you two?" Issun questioned.

"Definitely." I shuddered and shook my fur.

"It may be quiet now, but I've got a major case of the creeps. I know she's watching us from the shadows! She's ready to strike at any moment! Ammy, Silver, you ready?" He tried to encourage us.

"Yes!" We both answered confidently. Obviously, his tactics were working.

"Excellent! I can't wait to cut loose and go berserk! Let's teach that fox-headed wench a lesson!" Ammy and I stood in the arena, glancing around, waiting for something, anything. "Well…looks like we've finally reached the top of the castle." Issun said, obviously just speaking to break the silence. He jumped in front of us. "Now where's that fox-headed wench hiding?" He unsheathed Denkomaru. "The great Issun's gonna avenge Queen Himiko!"

The silence still stretched out, putting me on edge. What was going on?

The sound of Ammy's howl startled me a bit, and I watched with wide eyes as the clouds disappeared, revealing the blood red moon and a small cluster of stars.

"A constellation…here? I can't believe it would shine in a place like this…"

Seeing as it was the only thing we could do, we had no choice but to fill in the missing stars, despite all the warning signs, and as soon as we did so, an ominous gong sounded and, surrounded at first by blue smoke, a black figure emerged from the constellation, finally revealing its true form as it set its paws on the ground, which had turned into an attempted replica of the brush technique area. The nine-tailed fox copied our battle position, the mouth of its mask twisted into a deadly smirk.

The kitsune chuckled, her voice echoing around the artificial golden arena. "So, Amaterasu, Celia…you have crept into my castle like sneaky little mice, have you?" I snarled and bared my teeth. "By the power of Yami, ruler of the land of darkness, I, Ninetails, have been made lord of Ryoshima Coast! You needn't have come all this say just for me to kill you. I would have found you both and done so just the same." She growled viciously, then her voice turned sickly sweet, mocking. "Just like I did to Queen Himiko!"

"Yami? Land of darkness?" Issun questioned. "Never heard of either of 'em! And I don't remember ever giving you my okay to rule Ryoshima Coast!"

"Yami is the absolute ruler of all evil beings. He is the ultimate symbol of darkness. And he is nothing like those false gods of your fairytales!"

"False gods? You're the one going around pretending to be a priestess and building fishy hideouts like this!"

"Talk about being a hypocrite." I commented.

"We're gonna expose you for what you are once and for all!"

"Ho ho ho ho ho!" Hey, look! Santa! "We shall see, O furry ones. Prepare to face the wrath of my terrible power! A power far beyond your so-called gods!" And with that, the battle commenced!

Ammy and I moved around opposite sides of the arena and Ninetails' attention went over to Ammy. I watched intently to make a mental note of how she attacked. She jumped to the side about four or five times before charging. Luckily, Ammy just jumped over her, emerging completely unscathed, and put some distance between them.

Unfortunately, this meant that I was the closer target, so the fox was officially after me. I started running to the right, evading a swipe from her sword, but not by much. She went on a combo, but I had gotten far enough away that her weapon never touched me. Still, I was once again the closest, and she faced towards me, grabbing her 9-pronged sword in her mouth and pointing it towards the sky. I don't know who did it, but someone used the lightning still flashing in the sky to our advantage, using it to zap the fox and splitting her off into nine different colored orbs, some of which turned into people.

"Take out as many as you can!" I yelled, seeing Ammy nod in the corner of my eye. I growled and launched myself at the nearest one, which was a fat lady in a yellow kimono. I was doing fine, until three others showed up and ganged up on me. I'm not sure what happened other than I think I killed some by waving my rosary around like a madwoman, and I somehow got away with only 2/3 a solar unit of damage, after spirit globes.

As soon as Ninetails was back in fox form, the first thing I noticed was she had less tails. As for how many she lost, I didn't have time to count before she used the same attack she had back at Himiko's Palace, leaving puddles of burning green acid all over the arena.

She turned around and charged at Ammy again, giving me a few seconds to catch my breath. At the rate this was going, we would beat this fox wench, no sweat!

As if to prove my point, Ninetails pulled out her sword again and I used thunderstorm to shock her into her other form, smirking at how easy this was.

I went after the pretty average-looking person in the red kimono first. I blue one tried to join in to help the other but, although I didn't have time to finish off their red friend, I still left them with some pretty good injuries.

Don't mess with me; I've got a freaking necklace.

_Just four more to go,_ I thought, counting the number of tails left on Ninetails as she tried, and failed, to make a combo on Ammy.

And then came the weirdest attack ever. She stuck her tails in the ground and tried to basically have them pop up and impale me and Ammy. Yeah, no. One time was enough, thank you, have a nice life.

When Ninetails put her sword up again, I wasn't the one to electrocute her this time, sadly, but I still kicked the butt of an old lady. That counts for something, right?

The illusion of the golden landscape was suddenly broken and we appeared to be back on Oni Island, complete with beat up, ugly-looking giant fox staring at us like it wanted to murder.

Oh, wait…she did…nevermind…

Ninetails growled at us viciously. "You think you can just waltz up to Yami and kill him?" She yelled, charging at me.

I flew over her effortlessly. "Well, that's the nutshell version of it. There's still dungeons, bosses, all that crap." I answered with a smirk. She looked infuriated at the response and pulled out her sword, only to be zapped a second later. I moved closer to attack with my rosary, but she took the opportunity to charge at me, knocking me over to the left.

"Don't…_ever_…underestimate him!" The fox said in between breaths. She was getting tired, and she didn't have the luxury of holy bones, one of which I nommed on to restore my solar energy, because that charge was one heck of an attack!

"Light will always outshine the darkness!" Ammy growled, attacking with her own rosary, causing the fox to spin around, rage and hate clear in her eye.

"Foolish Amaterasu!" She scoffed before charging at Ammy, missing the wolf by a long shot. "Things have changed!" She pulled out her sword, but the attack was thwarted, like always, leaving her gasping for breath. But strangely, she recovered quickly. "There is strength in numbers. Darkness is unlimited!" She snarled the last word before charging at me. I ran out of the way, barely dodging the attack, but powerslashing the fox right after while she was dazed.

"Yeah, right. And where is it all coming from, then?" I questioned. "Unless you're telling me there's no source at all."

Ninetails gave the most ferocious growl I think I've ever heard. It even put Gekigami to shame. "Oh, there _is_ a source. But you will never live to see her!" And with that, all heck broke loose. She basically went on a rampage of insane fury, never stopping for breath, determined to destroy us, even if it killed her. We were forced to dodge every attack, waiting for when she held up her sword to do any damage. The third time finally did her in, and we stood in front of her and watched as her body was surrounded in red and blue flames.

A soft laugh was heard and, weakly, Ninetails lifted her head to address us, glee clearly evident in her tone. "As long as Lady Kagami lives, your precious Nippon will never be safe!" Then she fell over on her side, her body consumed by the flames, and left behind two weapons. The Blade of Kusanagi and Nine Fury.

_Himiko's death had been avenged! Amaterasu and Celia's tenacity had proven too much for Ninetails. The fearsome beast lay defeated, its true nature laid bare for all to see. In death, it was reduced to no more than a tired old fox. Oni Island, pining for its mater, raised a din and began to crumble. Like a funerary offering, it scattered into flowers. Otohime, who had transformed into the Water Dragon, returned to the Dragon Palace, her role fulfilled. Ninetails' monstrous countenance, removed from its master, moved skyward, transforming into a wisp of pure and utter blackness. There, it joined the spirit of its defeated master. Even Blight showed up, lending a hand to the fallen Ninetails. Pulsing and undulating, they intertwined in midair. Then, the black mass moved toward the land to the extreme north. Four such blackened spirits had emerged from Orochi's corpse. Perhaps these two were off to join their remaining brethren. Left behind were Ninetails' words about the dark lord, Yami. Could it be that this formidable creature resided to the North? And even more pressing was the mention of Lady Kagami. Who was she, and how were she and Yami related? Amaterasu and Celia, sensing a dark presence, trembled._

_The diminutive Issun, who had accompanied Amaterasu and Celia bravely, felt a tinge of hesitation in his heart, for he had predicted that the journey would end when all thirteen powers were restored. With only one power remaining, a tiny frown creased his face. At any rate, their next target was waiting for them in the frozen North. Their adventure was far from over…_

"No time to rest on your laurels, you two!" Issun told us. "Defeating Ninetails didn't bring Himiko back…but at least you can send her spirit off with a heroic howl!"

And thus commenced the super, fantabulous, epically amazing victory howl of the ages!

AKA a normal victory howl. But it was still fun, and that's what counts.

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><p>Remember that one really cheesy part after Celia killed the ogre? Yeah, that would be the result of reading too much Reiteration and Reminiscence a few days before writing this chapter. (Please don't rat me out, people. IT WASN'T INTENTIONAL! *cries*)<p> 


	28. Kamui, Oki, and girl talk

All right, everyone! It's the start of the third plot arc! Who's excited? 8D

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. If you don't already have one, take a map to cookie island. We now have...umm...*glances around room* WE'RE GIVING TABLETS TO ALL THE TABLET-LESS PEOPLE! COME NOW AND GET YOURS! *shot*

And I just thought I need to explain something before you all read this chapter. If anyone thinks Ammy is out of character in this chapter, I'd just like to point out that she _does_ seem a bit silly in Okami. She's not _always_ serious. I don't really show her playful side that much, so I decided to do so in this chapter. Sorry if you don't like that part. (You'll have to deal with it for the next few chapters. It's a running gag. XD)

For the first part of the chapter, listen to mysterious power, rage of a god, or behind the veil from the Okami soundtrack. I think any of those will work well for it.

I don't own Okami, I only own Celia, yada yada yada, on with the story!

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><p>Chapter 25- Kamui, Oki, and girl talk<p>

"Waka."

The voice pulled the prophet out of his thoughts and he turned around, putting on a fake smile. "Bonjour, Shamiterasu! May I ask, what are you doing here?"

The golden wolf frowned at Waka. "The group made it through Oni Island and defeated Ninetails."

"Well, that's very good news, is it not?" He tapped his flute to his chin and closed his eyes. "Or are you here to yell at me that I never gave a fair warning to Celia about the pit filled with bamboo shoots?"

"You said it, not me." Shamiterasu defended. "So why didn't you? Do you get a kick out of seeing her in near-death situations or something?"

Waka raised an eyebrow. "_Get a kick out of it?_ Methinks someone has spent a little too much time watching Celia."

"Just answer the question!" She snapped, eyes narrowed in frustration.

The prophet let out a sigh. "I can warn them in riddles, but nothing can be directly stated unless they have seen the same things. Besides, Nippon isn't exactly in its finest state right now. Dangers are everywhere." He paused. "Although I'm starting to think bringing Celia here wasn't the best idea."

"What do you mean?" Shami stared at her father. "If you hadn't done it, Amatearsu and Issun would be dead by now!"

"I should have just sent her back after they defeated Orochi." Waka muttered, then sent a small glare at his daughter. "But then you pushed Celia at Issun, and I just couldn't do it. I had to at least wait and see what would happen." The prophet sighed again. "Perhaps I should just send her back now…"

"No!" Shamiterasu growled, startling Waka, although he quickly recovered.

"Celia has died once and come close too many times to count. I'm worried about the emotional stress it could be putting on her." He put his face in his hands. "She may have gotten along fine in Nippon at first, but she wasn't raised here. She's a ticking time bomb that can implode in on herself at any given moment."

Shamiterasu gave Waka a cold stare. "You have too little faith in her."

"And you have too much!" Waka retorted quickly before settling down. "Besides, Celia isn't the only problem. …_She_ is gaining power.

Shamiterasu froze, her eyes widening in terror. "You mean…"

Waka nodded grimly. "She left behind a string of monsters to keep Nippon, and Amaterasu and Celia, occupied. But every second the time rift we made stays open and Celia is here, not just Nippon, but the universe is in danger."

The golden wolf closed her eyes, contemplating what to do. "They don't have much further to go until they reach Yami. Just let her stay. It won't cause too much harm."

_You have no idea how quickly she is waking up, Waka_ thought, but finally nodded. "All right, she can stay. But just pray that they don't run into too many problems in Kamui.

(Time Skip: Oh, great. Plot. Fun.)

As soon as we made it back to dry land, we were met with the worst welcoming committee in existence.

"Bonjour, Amaterasu and Celia!" Waka greeted with a smile. "Been on a little fox hunt over on Oni Island, have you?" By the looks of it, I'd say you had a rather rough time." He observed.

"Yes, and we would love it if you'd just leave to let us get to the nearest origin mirror, thanks." I snapped irritably. I wasn't in the mood, especially after my near deaths. The least he could've done was warn me. I mean, he told me about Issun and Ammy. What, I wasn't important enough or something?

"Was that wily fox really so formidable?" He continued to tease us and laughed.

"Why you-! How can you say that?" Issun demanded, clearly infuriated with the prophet's antics as well. "Himiko's dead, you heartless swine!"

"Hm? Oh, I see…" Waka trailed. "Well, I never expected to see you acting like such a little whelp. After all, Queen Himiko was resigned to her fate. Even you knew that, did you not, Amaterasu?"

I stared at my friend with wide eyes. "Ammy?"

She stayed quiet, a sad expression on her face, before giving a small nod.

"Anyways," I swear, changing topics seemed to be a new hobby of Issun's or something. "You're the last person we wanna see. Now get outta my face, you two-bit prophet!"

"I have to admit, I agree with the idiot."

"Thank you…HEY!"

"My, my, what fabulous moods you two are in today." Waka commented dryly as he crossed his arms. "Your anger is enough to cloud the sky." As if on cue, the loud echo of thunder could be heard. "See, I told you. That thunder is coming from north of Shinshu Field. It no doubt heralds the coming storm."

"Fantastic. Now will you please move? These injuries really sting."

Waka just laughed and nodded. "Very well, ma cherie, mon etoile, it is time I bid you adieu. But first, let me leave you two with this-" He did his stupid pose thing while saying, "A shocking zap and it opens! Phew…feels good to get that one off my chest! And while I'm at it, I'll just make a little mark on your map."

Thank you, Nippon logic, for making it so he didn't have to yank the thing out of our inventory, and instead the circle just magically appeared on our map. But that didn't make everyone happy.

"Hey, who said you could do that?" Issun snapped.

"Did you not plan on going there anyway, ma cherie? You know…"

"WILL YOU PLEASE JUST LEAVE ALREADY? I WOULD LIKE TO SAVE YEN AND USE THE ORIGIN MIRROR INSTEAD OF USING A HOLY BONE, PLEASE K THANKS!"

Of course, like always, my rant was disregarded entirely. "In the direction of the evil that sprung from the wily fox's body?"

"Okay, whaddya up to this time, pretty boy?"

"Stalling us as long as possible to prolong our pain."

Waka just chuckled and pointed his flute at us while speaking. "Oh, it felt so good to prophesize after such a long break."

"You know what else would feel good? Standing on an origin mirror, IF YOU WOULD ONLY LET US!"

Waka smirked and rolled his eyes. "Now you see me, now you don't! Au revoir!"

"Thank the thirteen brush gods!"

(Time Skip: HEY, I THOUGHT I WAS ON MY LUNCH BREAK! JUST USE THE STUPID ~, DON'T FORCE ME TO WORK WHEN I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO! JEEZ!)

"All right," I heard Issun clap his hands "There's the catwalk statue, there's the giant sword, there's the lightning, and here are the two well-rested wolves and a poncle. Can we go _now_?"

I may or may not have suggested we take a short nap. Considering it was still nighttime when we woke up, it was either a very quick one or we slept through the entire day. I'd say it was the latter, judging by how well-rested we all were. Issun may have been frustrated by the stalling, but I'll never complain about a few more hours of sleep.

"No. We still need to collect all the treasure chests up there, if there are any." I said with an innocent look and started to climb up the wall. I looked around. Everything looked normal enough, so I just ran over to the left. I planned to circle around and end at the dome with the sword.

"Demon gate." Ammy informed from behind me. I nodded, and we both ran in. Just a couple imps. "I'll get the blue."

"And I'll take the red!" I powerslashed the imp twice, destroying its shield and weapon. One hit was all it took to bring the monster down, demon fang and all. I did the exact same to the next red imp that came my way, grinning broadly. If only we had those glaives back in the beginning! Admittedly the last imp I faced, a blue one, took two hits, but still, compared to my first weapon, this was cake!

The fight rewarded us with thirty praise and bunnies to feed, which added 8 more to that. Since everything else was pretty normal, I'll spare you the boring details. The gist of it is we got treasures, we killed imps, and we got a total of 138 praise while doing it. After that, it was time for Issun's comments on the dome with a sword sticking out of it.

"This has been here for ages, but…nobody knows what it's for. There are many things like that in Nippon. No one knows when they were built or even who build them…but I suppose people have more important things to think about."

And this concludes another thrilling episode of _Comments with Issun._

"So, who wants to use thunderstorm?" Ammy asked.

"Dibs!" I shouted and commenced to use said brush technique on the sword. The entire dome was engulfed in electricity before the top began to rotate and the door opened up.

"Let's go."

"Wait," Issun stopped us. "Do you two know where this hole leads to?"

"No clue!"

"You know, there was a foul smoke rising from Ninetails which flew off to the northern lands. That's what's waitin' for us at the other side of this tunnel."

"And now we know."

"Anyway, what's up with that creepy lightning?"

"How is it creepy? It's been going on for twenty four hours? That would be called Nippon logic. You obviously didn't get the memo."

I swear, I could just feel Issun glaring at me. "Well, I've got a bad feeling about this!"

"And no one cares. Now let's just go."

(Time Skip: Who knows how long later…c'mon, they're traveling all the way to the north by foot. It's gonna take a while.)

"Brrr…is it cold here or what?"

I shook my fur, which had already acquired a good amount of snow in the short time we left the tunnel. "Amen to that. At least Ammy and I have fur." Even though I said that, I still shivered afterwards.

"How could anywhere be so darn cold? I know Kamui's the northernmost part of Nippon, but c'mon! I don't remember it ever snowing _this_ hard before!"

"What is this, the next ice age?" I complained, stepping closer to Ammy for warmth.

"Listen, Silver. I'm gonna hunker down in this fur coat of yours. You two try to find us some shelter from this nasty blizzard!"

"Of course. Leave all the work to us. It's not like we care at all." I muttered, then felt Ammy nudge my shoulder.

"Come on. I'm sure we'll get somewhere if we just follow this path." She suggested gently. We padded through the blizzard, side-by-side to keep in as much body heat as we could, before coming to a wide-open area with a house on the other side.

"Shelter!" I cheered as I made a run for it. Unfortunately for me, a battle barrier went up and a monster that looked like it belonged I Hawaii rather than Kamui appeared. "Oh, come on!"

"They're just like imps or guardians." Issun informed. "Figure out which is which and you'll be fine!"

I blinked. "Wow. Useful information. Thanks." I rushed forwards and attacked the group of monsters, and after two hits, I figured the smaller ones were the green imps and the two with signs on their backs were the reds, judging by how they blocked my attacks. I powerslashed their signs, leaving them both vulnerable. After that, the battle was just like the old ones I used to have with imps, the only difference being galestorm was the floral finisher instead of powerslash. It felt almost nostalgic. And hey, the barrier even kept the blizzard at bay!

"Are you alright?" Ammy asked as soon as the fight ended. I must've accidentally left her behind

"Piece of cake!" I smiled. "Now c'mon! Let's go into that house already! I'm freezing my tail off out here!"

(Time Skip: Inside the house… [Because apparently a scene transition is needed for this.])

"Brrrr!" Issun jumped out of my fur and right next to the fire in the middle of the house. "Look! Fire! Fire! Guess we're not gonna freeze after all!"

I heard a soft noise and looked across the room, eyes widening at what I saw. A person slowly stood up, glaring coldly at us through his mask. He unsheathed his sword, causing both me and Ammy to jump up and growl.

"How? What's your problem, you two?" Issun questioned. "I'm allowed to relax in front of the fire, ain't I?" The man mumbled something under his breath, finally causing Issun to turn around and figure out exactly what our problem was. "Yikes!" He stopped bouncing. "You…?"

The man just pointed his sword at us and we all started to circle around the fire. When he reached the door, he relaxed, tilted his head towards the exit, and dashed outside.

"You see that? I'm not talking about that silly mask. I mean his sword! That puppy's a bona fide masterpiece!"

"I don't care how good his sword is; I just care about following him. If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he'll get!" I said with a growl.

Sure enough, waiting for us at the other side of the area was the man, holding his sword threateningly.

"Looks like he means business!" Issun observed. The only response he got was three torches lighting up and an inhuman growl, which signaled the battle barrier and beginning of the fight.

Ammy and I both attacked once he was in range, backing off right before he tried to counter. He jumped over to us again, but before we could escape, a blast of ice shot out of his sword. All I can say is, thank Yomigami for godhood. Five knives appeared out of nowhere and we quickly poewrslashed them all, sending them flying back at their owner, who was flung to the ground, stunned. Ammy and I attacked again, but I could tell it wasn't doing much, judging by how much power he put into his next slice, which we barely avoided. On the next chance I got, I used fire, but still, nothing. I saw Ammy use a different brush technique, causing mist to appear all around the area, and I would've slapped myself, had I not been a wolf. How did I forget all about veil of mist?

With two wolves working together to attack at what any onlooker would think of as super speed, the damage we dealt was a lot more, and it was pretty easy to see. The man tried to use an ice blast again, but we were too far away for it to do anything to us. He stupidly tried to attack with daggers again, which were just repelled and served to damage him. We didn't do as much as last time, and he ended up hitting Ammy, but we still had godhood, so she was perfectly fine.

With a couple more hits, we thought the fight was over. But apparently, we were far from it. The man did a backflip, and when he landed, he was a wolf. Confusing and logic-defying? Yes. But not only were we in Nippon, we were still in the middle of a battle, so I had to push the questions in my mind aside for the time being. With yet another growl, the man-turned-wolf made three huge ice spikes appear out of nowhere. Powerslashing them didn't stun him, unfortunately, but at least we weren't hurt.

Of course, right when I was thankful for that, the wolf charged up an attack and charged at us three times, like the canine warriors did. We both dodged the first time, I was hit the second, and Ammy the third. The thing did two solar units of damage, too. Ouch. He wasn't exactly stunned, more so just out of breath, but that didn't mean we took the opening to attack for granted. Once he jumped away from us, he prepared to do the same attack, but we dealt with it like we did with all other canines- a simple powerslash. That didn't seem to teach him his lesson, considering he tried- and failed- to do it again. After that, common sense must've kicked in, because he _did_ try something different. Sadly for him, we still knew that ice spikes could be powerslashed. He _finally_ got a bit more creative, making two clones of himself to join in the fight. Still, the magical poewrslash solves everything, and for that, we are eternally grateful to Tachigami.

Something I wasn't so grateful for: The fact that ink is limited.

"Oooooh crap!" I exclaimed before getting utterly pwnd by the charge attack. Why Ammy didn't prevent it, I'll never know. I just assume she wanted me to learn my lesson: Never abuse veil of mist and poewrslash. It will bit you in the butt in twenty seconds flat. "Ow." I grumbled, forcing myself to my feet. I'm not even sure how, but while I was down, Ammy somehow stunned the wolf and ended the battle, basically taking all the glory for herself. Yeah, that made me real happy.

"Not bad, white and silver ones." The man-turned-wolf now turned man again praised. "I am Oki of the Oina tribe." He turned towards us, and I suddenly felt my heart rate speed up. His hair was epic, red on top but turning to black below the ears of his mask, his skin was dark, almost looking like he had a tan, (Although how he managed to get one in Kamui, only the brush gods know.) he wore a demon fang as a necklace, (I had a feeling he didn't get it by trading treasure.) and he wore just a t-shirt and a vest, but he didn't seem cold in the least. Even his mask, which I thought looked weird at first, was now pretty cool. There was only one work I could think of to describe him. Hot. Even in wolf form, my face burned at the thought, and I forced my ears to stay straight up and not flatten in embarrassment. He was also a wolf. I was pretty sure he knew that was the equivalent of a blush.

"You are obviously not of our tribe." Oki stated calmly, walking closer to us, then pointing his sword at us. "And I can see that you are no mere wolves, either. What names do you go by?"

Issun jumped from my nose to Oki's sword. "These two are Amaterasu and Sela, the great saviors of Nippon!"

"At this point, I've given up all hope of you ever pronouncing my name correctly." I growled softly at Issun, then looked up at Oki. "She's Ammy, I'm Celia. The reason we don't seem like normal wolves is because she's a goddess and I'm a human currently stuck as a wolf." I said the last part a little sheepishly, suddenly embarrassed about the fact in front of him, an Oina. He just nodded, and I relaxed a little.

"But enough about us." Issun interrupted. "Why'd you hafta go and attack us? And what are you doing with that sword in the first place?"

"Oh, I see you have a poncle with you." Oki noted nonchalantly and lifted up his sword a little to see him better. "Wait. Is that Issun?" He lowered his sword and pushed it a little closer to us, as if offering us our little companion back. "I haven't seen you around in ages. Must be nice to be able to roam Nippon on the backs of a couple wolves, huh? I heard you got tired of painting and ran from this land in disgust about a year ago. So why did you come back? Did you have second thoughts?"

Issun jumped back on to my head angrily. "Why you..!"

"I don't know who you three think you are, but you're nothing like the legendary Shiranui, Shamiterasu, and the pint-sized warrior!"

"Bah! Put a cork in it, will ya? Why don't you start by telling us why you have that sword!"

"This sword?" I had a feeling Oki was raising an eyebrow behind his mask. "I have this sword because the time to wield it has come."

"What?"

"As you well know, Kamui is a harsh land covered in snow and ice." He began. "And the monsters that infest the region only make our life worse. Yet we, the Oina tribe, have managed to survive to this day. It is because the sacred Ezofuji mountains have watched over us. However, our mothers and protectors, our most sacred of mountains, have been taken over by those demons! Yes, I speak of the twin demons, Lechku and Nechku. They had been imprisoned at the twin summits of Ezofuji. But they suddenly broke free one day and began their deadly assault upon the land of Kamui. The snow storms grew more intense, transforming Kamui into a frozen wasteland."

"Those two are back?" Issun gasped, obviously shocked.

"No. They're just taking a vacation from their imprisonment." I replied sarcastically.

"Many of our tribe have been killed by their relentless attacks." Oki informed us. "It was as if they roamed our land in search of something. But they mercilessly slaughtered all the Oina they came across. The good earth is losing its power and its soul. Without these gifts of the gods, Kamui will become uninhabitable. I must slay those wretched demons now, before it is too late!"

"What about the villagers?" Issun questioned in a panicked tone.

Oki looked at us. "They should be battling the cold that blasts down from Ezofuji." He then focused his attention on the path behind him. "After all, our village lies at their base. It is only a matter of time before Kamui becomes an icy tomb."

"An icy tomb?"

"That _is_ what he just said."

"Shut up." Issun turned his attention from me to Oki. "Then what're ya doing out here with that guardian sword? Why did you bring it out of the village?"

Oki raised said object in the air."Did I not say the time to use the sword has come? You've heard of the prophecy of salvation, have you not?"

"He's Issun. Even if he has, he's probably forgotten it by now."

"Hey!"

Oki was kind enough to repeat it to us. "_'The wall of ice shall shatter and open the way to the heavens when Kutone, the guardian sword, glows silver.'_" He lowered his weapon. "It means that when this sword glows silver, ridding the village of this abominable blizzard will be child's play!"

"The sword's gonna start glowing?"

"Oh my Nuregami, he paid attention."

"I hate you."

"Love ya too, bug boy."

Oki just ignored our bickering. "Yes, but Kutone will not wake until it has tasted more monster blood. So I will continue slaying the foul beasts wherever they may be, until Kutone lights our way to victory!" And then the Oina man decided to switch topics. "It appears the blizzard has lightened a bit. I don't know when the demons will went the next blizzard, but now would be your best chance to flee to the village."

"Wait a sec, Oki…" Issun trailed. "I can't believe the chief let you take that sword. I mean, he tanned my hide once for just touching the darn thing!"

"I already told you. The time to wield it has come." Oki replied.

"Oh, hey. It's daytime." I observed bluntly. "Let's get going now. See ya later, Oki!" And with that, we ran down the path and turned right to avoid the cursed zone, quickly running into an old face.

"Oh, it's you again, poochies!"

Yup. Yoichi.

"Hey! Aren't you…? I knew it! You're that master bowman. The apple guy!" Doesn't Issun give out the greatest nicknames? "What're ya doin' all the way out here in this nasty blizzard?"

"Well, y'see, I've come to realize something since setting off my travels."

"AKA running away from the bridge incident."

"It's my bow. It seems to bring about misfortune. So I decided to go far away where I couldn't cause any trouble. And what do you know, I ended up all the way up here in the north! Anyways poochies, why not have a bite to eat and relax a bit?" He tossed us an apple, which I quickly started nomming on while Ammy used thunderstorm on one of Yoichi's arrows. This somehow caused it to break through solid rock, revealing a guardian sapling. Yoichi began talking again, but I was too focused on eating to pay attention to his words until we got fifty praise out of nowhere. Does that make me a bad person?

"All this time I've been saying I wanted to do bit things, but I was really just traveling so I could have an easy life. Now I see there's no such things as an easy path. Not when you dedicate yourself to mastering one thing. The gods have shown me my true path! The path of archery!"

"So what're you gonna do now?" Issun questioned.

"The time's come for me to stop being so whimsical. My real journey starts here and now! We must have some kind of strange link between us. It's only when you three are around that the gods show their hand!" That would be because Ammy _is_ a god… "I'll never forget any of you. If we ever meet again, let's share a few apples together! Farewell, my friends!" And then he ran off for the last time. Straight into the cursed zone.

Whoops?

"The apple guy's gone…" Issun announced like we didn't just see it. "Maybe he's found his reason to live."

"He realizes he's not going to find it in the cursed zone, right?"

"If only all of us could do that…"

"If you wanna charge into there, be my guest."

"Silver, quit ruining the moment."

"It's Yoichi's fault."

Ammy pulled us out of our argument by blooming the guardian sapling. Curse those trees and their hypnotizing prettiness. Our friend then fed a few sheep, and we were headed right, walking around a demon scroll and feeding foxes before running into a couple more familiar faces.

"Huh? Is that you, doggies?" Kokari, now wearing blue and orange clothes that looked more suited to the environment, asked, or rather, exclaimed in shock. Take your pick. "Remember me? We played together back in Agata Forest."

"Hello, Kokari." I greeted with a smile.

Issun was just as shocked as the boy. "Kokari? Is that you?"

"I just said his name. Yes, that is him."

"Silver, shut it. Anyway, how'd you get all the way out here?"

"I wanted to become a real man like Susano."

"Susano is not a man. He's a walking, talking jug of sake."

"So I took my dad's fishing pole and set out on an epic journey." Epic? "You know, I liked the river, but it's nothing like the vast sea. It makes me realize just how insignificant my life was."

"Wow. You're no longer that crybaby we met back in Agata Forest! Now that I think about it, you look more grown-up, too!" Issun commented.

Kokari's face lit up instantly. "You really think so? I've seen a lot of Nippon's great outdoors, but the vast and icy sea of Kamui is a far harsher environment than anywhere else."

"Well, yeah. I mean, there's been blizzards 24/7."

"If I could prove myself equal to the harsh wilderness here, maybe I could become a real man like Susano."

"Real walking, talking jug of sake." Of course, I was just ignored, or rather, not even heard, and Kokari resumed fishing.

"There he is again, getting' back to nature with his fishing pole…and without a line or bait to boot." Issun said.

"Hey, you encouraged the kid." I reminded him.

"Now I know why my dad cherished this pole. When I hold it in my hands, I hear Mother Nature herself speak! Hey, doggies. How about we do some fishing? Just like old times! I wanna show you what I can do now!"

I shook my head. "Sorry, Kokari, but not now. We have a lot of stuff to do before another blizzard hits." The explanation may have fallen on deaf ears, but it just felt better to say it, anyways. And besides, he saw the earlier gesture I made, which was enough.

"Huh? Going already?" Kokari tilted his head. "Well, come on back if you change your mind!"

"I'm back."

I nearly jumped out of my fur at the sound of Ammy's voice. "You were gone?"

She glanced backwards. "Cranes."

"Oh."

"C'mon, you two! Let's get going!" Issun urged. "And I think I see a treasure chest peaking out of the snow over there!"

"How is anyone's eyesight that well?" I questioned as I ran over and started digging up said chest. There was a stray bead inside. When I looked down the path we were going on, I smirked. "Dojo! Let's go!"

(Time Skip: Inside the dojo…am I seriously needed for this?)

"Look who's here! Greets my little wolf friends!" The Onigiri Sensei said with a smile…at least, I assume he was smiling. With a face like that, you can never really tell.

"What the? Not you again?"

"Issun. We're in a dojo. What did you expect?"

"C'mon! Can't he just pick a place to run his dojo and stick with in?"

"I've already explained myself, no? Be it a lone isle among the waves or the most frigid mountain peak, I forge a warrior's path throughout the land."

"Wow, you are one serious dude. And here I thought you were laid back. Your face really changes when you get down to business!"

"You couldn't tell by the head spin thing?"

"What has brought you two here?" He questioned. "Do you once again seek my tutelage in the fighting arts?" Ammy and I looked at the list of things to learn.

"How much yen do we have, Issun?" I asked.

He took a second to reply. "About 700,000."

"Dang. Not buying tools really pays off."

Ammy pointed with her snout to the first thing on the list. "Hardhead sounds useful."

"Break objects that you couldn't before by tackling them. 10,000 yen."

I nodded. "That one goes on the list We're not getting fleetfoot…or counterdodge, apparently…"

"What about holy falcon?" Issun inquired.

"Damaging enemies with a double jump sounds cool, but it's 30,000 yen."

"We'll decide on that later." Ammy said.

"All right. Five winds sounds useful…"

"You haven't even learned spirit storm yet." Issun pointed out.

"We can do that, then learn spirit Armageddon."

I frowned. "But it's 30,000."

"We have 700,000 yen."

"…True."

"What about four shears?" Issun asked.

"50,000. I don't care how much yen we have. No." If I was human, I would've crossed my arms. "And we don't need the next three, either."

"Fine then." Issun huffed, clearly irritated. "The last two are golden fury and brown rage."

I went into little kid mode. "Can we get golden fury? Pleeease!" I begged Ammy, giving her arguably the biggest puppy dog eyes in history.

My friend sighed. "How much will the total be?"

I swear, that was the fastest I'd ever done math in my head. "167k without holy falcon, 197k with."

"Well, we have 700,000…" Ammy trailed.

I instantly glomped her. "Thank you!"

(Time Skip: I'm saving you people from reading boring, redundant crap. Be thankful.)

"That…was disgusting." I could feel Issun shiver from on top of my head.

I just laughed. "Hey, whatever gets us demon fangs. At least I didn't beg to get brown rage."

"Oh dear Shiranui…" Issun groaned.

She probably would've denied it, but I saw a smile on Ammy's face as she used a torch near Yoichi's house to melt the ice around a treasure chest. It was obvious she was trying not to laugh as well.

"What's that?" Her expression suddenly turned serious. She pointed with her tail to a mound of snow that seemed to be moving. I cautiously moved forward and sniffed it, only to be thrown onto my back as the mound of snow emerged, revealing itself to be a monster.

"Igloo turtle!" Issun gasped as a battle barrier went up around us.

"Can you be a useful little poncle and tell us how to kill this thing?" I requested, getting into a fighting stance.

I felt Issun glaring at me. "Attack it then use inferno when it's stunned."

Ammy sprung towards the enemy and I just watched in awe as she ran around the thing, not even giving it a chance to attack with how frequently she stabbed it with her glaive. It was quickly stunned, which was when she used the blazing fire on its tail against it, revealing its weak spot, like a bud ogre. She took away what appeared to be a good chunk of its health before it got back up.

"Little help over here?" She requested.

I shook my head and ran to my friend's side. "Sorry!" Together, it took us even less time to kick igloo turtle butt and get three demon fangs while doing it.

As soon as the barrier disappeared and we began walking again, my mind drifted to Oki. I just couldn't help it. He was so cute! And being able to turn into a wolf at will? That just made him five times cooler. He was really good at fighting. I'm not even sure if I could've beaten him without Ammy's help. Everything about him just seemed…perfect.

"Nippon-to-Celia."

"Huh?" I jumped.

Ammy rolled her eyes. "You're zoning out."

"Am not." I growled and narrowed my eyes.

"I just went into a demon gate and you didn't go in with me."

I blinked. "I didn't?"

"Issun, go explore the hole over there." Ammy suggested. Issun chuckled, and I gave him a nice wolf spit bath before sending him off. My friend gave one last glance at the hole before looking at me and smirking. I didn't like the glint in her eyes at all.

"Um…can I help you?"

"You have a crush on Oki."

My jaw dropped, my ears flattened, and my eyes widened. "What? N-no way! I-I mean, he's cool, but-"

Ammy cut me off. "Oh, calm down. Just between you and me," She looked around one more time and lowered her voice. "You aren't the only one."

I stared at her. "Are you serious?" She just nodded. "Dang, Ammy. I'm the teenage girl here, not you!" I laughed.

My friend smiled sheepishly. "I have my moments."

"Silver!" Issun's voice echoed as the poncle bounced over to us. "You jinxed us back on Oni Island! There's another blockhead! And it's got ten weak points! Ten!"

"Mhm. That's nice." I said absentmindedly. "Ammy, that's just hilarious…yet awesome."

If she were a human, she would've been blushing. "Can we change the topic now? This is awkward. "

"No." I said firmly and started walking back to the main path. "You. Me. Girl talk. You _will_ have fun."

"Girl talk?" Issun groaned. "Just kill me now. I should've stayed back in that hole. Dealing with Blockhead Grande would've been less painful."

"Well, boo hoo. Your loss." I pushed a fish feedbag over to a bear. "So…Oki."

"Oki?" Issun exclaimed. "It's official. I died and didn't make it to the Celestial Plain."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Oki." Ammy said flatly, clearly unsure of what to say next. "Um…he's cute…?" She looked away from me and powerslashed a rock.

I rolled my eyes. If I wanted to have a girly discussion with Ammy, it seemed I was going to have to take the first step. A veeery big first step. "Definitely! Especially his hair!"

Ammy gave a tiny smile after she bloomed a clover. "The different colors _are_ pretty cool…"

"Pretty cool?" I raised an eyebrow. "C'mon! It's epic and you know it!"

She stared at the ground for a few seconds before locking gazes with me, a huge grin on her face. "All right, I'll agree. It's awesome."

I ran down the path with my friend by my side. "Seriously, how does he do that? Is it natural, or does he dye it or something?"

"It's natural." Issun answered bluntly. "All Oina's hair is the same color as their wolf fur."

"Oh." I paused before dashing into a devil gate. "Well, that just makes it better! And how does it get all spiky like that?"

"Again, natural." Our poncle's patience seemed to be wearing thin.

"You're making me with I was an Oina." Ammy commented as she powerslashed the monsters in front of us.

I used the same brush technique, leaving the monsters weaponless. "You're a goddess! And besides, you probably have an awesome-looking human form, too. I'm just a regular old fourteen-year-old girl." I started spamming one of the monsters with attacks.

Ammy went after the other. "You have highlights the same color as your fur. That has to count for something, right?"

I gave a small laugh. "Maybe, but unless we're real Oina, actually dating Oki would technically be considered bestiality." I swished my tail and got the floral finisher for my monster.

An igloo turtle popped out of the ground, and Ammy and I lunged at it, attacking it mercilessly with our glaives while we continued our conversation.

"As long as we have a wolf and a human form, I think we'd be fine." Ammy replied with a wolfish shrug, using inferno on the stunned enemy.

I quickly got to work on the monster's weak point. "Yeah, but if it's between you and me, you'd win, hands down."

"Aww, why the low self-esteem?" My friend questioned as she joined in.

"I think we've had a conversation similar to this before. Goddess. Human. No competition." I pointed out, using fireburst on the monster's dead body.

"You don't think you could win with personality?" Ammy jumped onto the frozen surface of the river.

"Nah," I followed her and we walked, or rather, slid across the ice and into a cave. "With your looks, you'd probably have him wrapped around your finger in an instant." I used a torch on the wall to unfreeze a chest and get a vengeance slip before we jumped across a gap to a ledge with another chest. We obtained a scroll titled _Tribe of the Moon_, but ignored it in the good name of girl talk.

"You've never even seen me in human form." Ammy pointed out as she landed on another ledge and melted an ice-covered chest, earning us a large exorcism slip. "_I've_ never even seen myself in human form…that I can remember, anyways."

I double jumped across the gap to join her. "It's an educated guess. The point is, between us, Oki would totally choose you."

Ammy laughed as she gave a bear at the end of the path some food. "You think so?"

I turned around and began to backtrack to the beginning of the gap. "In fifteen minutes can Geico save you fifty percent or more on car insurance?" I was answered by silence and a confused stare. "That means yes, I do." I laughed and went down the path to the right, blooming a clover as I went along.

"We would probably have to wear masks, though." Ammy said.

I fed the bear at the end of the path and watched as my friend found a stray bead in a frozen chest. "Wouldn't it be annoying to have one on 24/7? How would you eat? How could you sleep? What if you wanted to make out with your boyfriend or something?" I couldn't stop myself from giggling at the third thing I said. And it must've been contagious, because Ammy joined in.

"Oina don't wear their masks all the time." Issun told us. His tone was flat. "When they're alone or with their family, mate, or very close friends, they normally have their mask off."

"See? You'd be able to kiss him if you wanted to." Ammy said jokingly.

"No, I lose, remember?" I jumped out of the cave entrance and onto the ice, almost falling down in the process.

The wolf goddess took a second to respond. "Who ever said we can't both have him?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but Issun cut me off. "An Oina can only have one mate. Besides, Oki's better than that."

"Better than that?" I questioned and walked past Ammy, who was busy feeding some rabbits. "You should be the last one talking like that, bug boy. As long as it's female, an intelligent life form, and has a pulse, you'll flirt with it." I jumped up a small frozen waterfall and fed the cranes that were there. "And I highly doubt poncles are allowed to have more than one 'mate'." I waited for a reply as I opened up a chest and grabbed some amethyst tassles. It never came. "Exactly."

"Celia, Issun, are you ready to go?" Ammy asked from the bottom of the waterfall.

"Yeah! Just a sec!" I called down. I backed up to the cliff wall, took a deep breath, and started running. I leaped off the edge and hit the ice hard. The little amount of friction there was did nothing to stop me as I slid all the way to the snow. "Woo!" I cheered with a huge smile. "That was awesome!"

Ammy laughed as she made her way over to me. "Why'd you leave?" She questioned, a small pout in her tone. Oh, great. Apparently my mood swings were contagious. "That conversation was fun."

I smirked. "Don't worry. We'll have another one later." I assured my friend. "Hey, wanna upgrade stuff before we go to the Oina Village? We got a crapton of praise."

She nodded. "So, what do you want to upgrade?"

I took a second to think. "We should just ignore the purse. We'll never fill the one we've got. Let's do astral pouch once for safety, the rest solar energy." Ammy agreed and said attributes were upgraded. The fact that we were only two praise away from another solar unit was infuriating, but my friend reminded me we'd find animals in the village, and with that for encouragement, we ran full-speed for said area.

* * *

><p>All right! Behold, another author's note at the bottom of the chapter! *shot*<p>

I just felt like I need to say this. No, I do _not _support OkixAmmy. I like WakaxAmmy, thank you. I just wanted Celia to have someone to senselessly babble with. XD

And everyone, be looking forward to next week! There'll be a double update! 8D


	29. Meeting the rest of the Oina tribe

Okay, well, here's the next (boring) chapter of OACA! The next chapter will be posted when I return home from school. Since I figured this move will probably only get me one or two reviews, if I'm lucky, for this chapter, let me remind you that you all get time on cookie island based on how many chapters you review. You'll have more time if you review both chapters rather than just one! And let me just point out that a friend and I have just made a recent discovery. All the cookies on cookie island seem to be Orochi scout cookies! (ALBN references. I'm sure my sister doesn't mind. XD) (Shameless asking for reviews. I'm horrible. XD) And the review count is pretty dang close to 200. (WTC?) If it reaches that number by the time I check my review count, I'll...uhh...make cookie island 10 times bigger! More fun! 8D *shot*

Disclaimer: I don't own Okami. What? You thought I did?

Chapter 26- Meeting the rest of the Oina tribe

"Whoa!" Issun exclaimed as soon as we arrived. "It's like the whole village has been frozen solid. I wonder if anyone's still alive…"

Of course, even when everyone could be dead, our first priority was to slide and stumble over to the small island in the middle of the village, use our epic digging powers, and bloom a clover, finally getting us enough praise to upgrade our solar energy. Yes, we are the famous heroes of Nippon, and we care more about the size of our own life bars than we do about your life!

Okay, I'm kidding. Five seconds never hurt anyone.

Issun just ordered us to go up to the stairs to our left, and with nothing else better to do, we obeyed. It wasn't long before we ran into a very angry-looking person standing in front of a house.

"Halt! Who goes there?" He yelled.

"Um…two random wolves and a poncle?" I tried, grinning innocently.

"This is the house of the village elder. If you need something from the elder, you must go through me."

"You." Ammy said bluntly, although by the tilt of her head, it was clearly a question.

"I'm Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe!"

Issun scoffed. "Sheesh! Who does this guy think he is?"

"Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe."

"…Well, at least we finally met someone from the village." He addressed Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe. "So whaddya doin' standing around in the middle of this blizzard?"

Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe, jumped in shock. "Hm? That grating voice…is that you, Issun? What in the world are you doing with those strange white and silver wolves?"

"We have names, ya know!" I growled irritably.

"That's none of your business, pal!" Issun shared my anger. "Anyway, what's with this village? It's a total mess. Is it true demons have taken over Ezofuji?"

"You must have been gone for some time if you don't know that." Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe, crossed his arms. "Save your questions for when you get back to your own village. That is, if it hasn't already been buried by the snow. Oh, and take these suspicious wolves with you, too."

"We have names and we're not suspicious!"

"Why you little- we're done talking to you! Let us into the chief's house now!" Issun demanded in a no-nonsense tone.

"No. You may not pass." And thus, we learned that Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe, is smarter than a blockhead. "We normally don't even let strangers into the village. And I've told the villagers not to let them into their houses. They will obey me, for I am Samickle, chief of Wep'keer! Now be on your way!" Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe, chief of Wep'keer, did a backflip and turned into a light blue wolf, growling at us threateningly. We took the hint and decided to leave the village.

"Well, he sure knows how to pull together a welcoming committee, huh?" I commented dryly as we passed the origin mirror in the village.

"He _is_ just trying to do what's bes-" Ammy was cut off by a bark that echoed across the village.

"Hey, wait!" We both turned around to see a light brown wolf run down the stairs at full speed, streak across the ice, and stop right in front of us. How she didn't crash and turn us into a literal dog pile, I'll never know. "You guys! Wait up!"

"Well, I'll be! I haven't seen you in ages!" Issun exclaimed.

The wolf smiled. "Issun! It _is_ you! I thought I heard you talking to Samickle."

"I just thought I'd come back and see how things were after my trip. I can't believe what's happened to the village since I've been gone. And that Samickle's still as stubborn as ever!" Our poncle complained. "When did _he_ become chief?"

"Well…a lot's happened this past year…" The wolf trailed. "Look, you'll freeze if you stay outside too long. Why don't you come rest at my place? And bring your white and silver wolves, too."

I nearly face/paw'd right then and there, despite the physical incapability. "We. Have. Names."

The wolf blinked. "Oh. Right. Who are you two, then?"

"I'm Celia." I said.

"And I'm Amaterasu." My friend gave a small nod.

"I'm Kai." The wolf introduced. "Now let's get inside. I'm already getting cold; I can't imagine how you three feel!"

"All right."

"TO THE WARMTH!"

(Time Skip: Inside Kai's house…)

"Brrr." Kai shivered. "At least the cold is a bit more bearable inside."

"Amen to that." I commented from my lovely seat of a few inches away from the fireplace.

"It's really been ages, hasn't it, Issun?"

"Let's just cut to the chase." Issun said. "There's so much I wanna ask you. First of all, about those demons that are plaguing Kamui…what the heck brought that on?"

"No one knows for certain. Those twin demons, Lechku and Nechku…they were sealed away by a brave Oina hero years and years ago. They have been enshrined at the Wawku Shrine ever since. Then, one day, they suddenly stirred and went berserk. A terrible blizzard descended upon Kamui. Kemu set out for the shrine at the top of Ezofuji to pacify them, but they nearly killed him. He was no match for their evil magic. Samickle managed to get him just in time and bring him back. Then they got even more violent and turned Ezofuji into a glacier! They unleashed a blizzard to smother Kamui in a layer of ice and snow. Chief Samickle's trying to protect the village while Kemu recovers, but there's nothing we can do against those demons."

"You really are in a fix if old man Kemu's prayers don't work." Issun commented.

Kai continued the story. "The day before the twin demons suddenly went berserk, we heard what sounded like an earthquake from Shinshu Field to the south. On that fateful day, Kemu declared that the evil force from the south had made its way here to Kamui. Kamui is sometimes called the land of hidden darkness. There's a legend that says all demons are born from this land. I wonder if all the world's demons are coming back to Kamui now. A black shadow passed overhead from the south recently and vanished into the Wawku Shrine as if it'd been swallowed up. Actually, I think the blizzard's been stronger since then…"

"Kai, there's something else I want to ask you. What's Oki doing with the sacred sword Kutone?" Issun questioned. "I saw him with it outside the village. How could old man Kemu let him take it at a time like this?"

Kai jumped in surprise. "Oh. You met Oki?"

Ammy just nodded, while I answered, "Heck yeah! He's awesome!"

Girl talk is contagious, and Kai seemed to quickly catch the bug. "I know! His mask…"

"And his hair…"

"And his fighting skills…" Ammy joined in.

"This isn't the time for your girl talk!" Issun exclaimed. We all muttered an apology before getting back on topic.

"Anyways…" Kai coughed awkwardly. "He left here with our sacred sword the morning after it all started. As soon as Samickle was chosen to take Kemu's place a chief, Oki just took the sword and left without permission. People from the village have tried to persuade him to bring it back, but Oki chases them off. He says he'll defeat the demons by himself."

"He just walked away with the sacred sword? He didn't even ask permission?" The shock was evident in his tone.

"Well, everyone admits Oki's a great warrior."

"Amen to that."

"Yup."

"Seriously, you two?"

"Sorry…"

"Even Samickle does."

"Y'SEE? EVEN SAMICKLE, TOP WARRIOR OF THE OINA TRIBE, CHIEF OF WEP'KEER, ADMITS IT! WHAT'S WRONG WITH US SAYING IT?"

"You said it like you were going to start more girl talk."

"…Shut up. Girl talk is fun, dang it."

"But it's impossible to defeat those demons all by himself! I just don't know why he did it. Now, of all times."

"One last thing, Kai." Issun said. "It's about Samickle. He seems awfully nervous about protecting old man Kemu. It's 'cause of Oki, isn't it?"

"Well, everyone's angry at Oki for taking the sword like that. But you see…well, Samicle would never say it, but he believes in Oki more than anyone else does. He's convinced Oki will come back and help the village." Kai answered.

"So then why'd he have to snap at us like that? He even told Furball and Fluffy here to get lost!"

She was silent for a few seconds. "Well, the day after the village was attacked by demons, Lika went missing."

"Lika? As in Lika, your-"

She cut him off. "That's right…my little sister. We scoured the village and the surrounding area, but we couldn't find her. She just vanished."

"Not poor little Like, too…" Issun said sadly. "Why would those demons mess with a little girl like that?"

"We don't know for sure if the demons are behind her disappearance. But they would certainly have reason to seek her out. You see, Lika…Lika holds the fate of the village in her hands!"

"The fate of this village?"

A howl suddenly echoed, causing Kai to jump.

"That was Kemu's howl!" She gasped. "He's calling to you, Issun. He's summoning the three of you."

"Well then, let's go." Ammy said.

(Time Skip: In front of Kemu's house…)

"What, you still got a bone to pick with us or something?" Issun asked a very annoyed-looking Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe, chief of Wep'keer.

"The elder summons the white and silver wolves to his home." He replied. "You may enter."

"Well, it's about time!"

"Amen to that."

"Outta our way, chump!"

Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe, chief of Wep'keer, backflipped into wolf form and snarled at us. We just ignored him and went inside.

(Time Skip: Inside Kemu's house…I'm being over-used…)

The first thing that occurred was an awkward silence. The next was Issun doing his job as the helping character.

"This is the village elder, old man Kemu, but…looks like he might've already kicked the bucket."

"Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe, chief of Wep'keer, will never let us hear the end of this." I muttered.

"How many times did gramps here tan my hide?" Issun thought aloud, then changed the topic. "Bah, this is no time to be dredging up the past…"

At that moment, the old man who we thought was lying dead on the floor jumped to his feet. "Grrr! Who was that bad-mouthing me? Looks like there are some hides to be tanned!"

"Dear Yumigami, run!" I yelled, making a beeline for the door. I ended up hitting something and fell to the ground.

"What the heck? Some invisible force is blocking the door!" Issun shouted in a panic.

I got to m feet, baring my teeth at the old guy who was running towards me. "We're screwed!" I yelped in pain as I was hit, and a second later, Ammy came to the rescue, tackling my attacker and sending him falling to the ground.

"Hm? What happened? Was that a dream? Was I sleepwalking again?" Kemu asked, a confused look on his face.

"Sheesh…old man snooze-a-lot tans hides in his sleep, too?"

"What, is that little Issun? So then I wasn't dreaming!"

"Why'd you have to hit me instead of the poncle, then?" I muttered angrily, lying and resting my head on my paws.

"I thought I heard Samickle talking to someone outside. I must say, Issun…you've grown…barely at all since I last saw you." I burst out laughing.

"Aw, put a cork in it, gramps!" The annoyance and embarrassment was practically rolling off him in waves. "Did you summon us just 'cause ya wanted someone to clobber?"

"Ah, yes…let us get down to business, eh? It is the white and silver wolves I wished to speak with. You've no doubt already heard this from Kai, but…her little sister, Lika, has gone missing."

"Yeah, we know about that. She disappeared about the time the demons started running amok."

"That's right." Kemu nodded. "And her disappearance threatens the very existence of our village!"

I yawned. "We've already heard all this."

"Kai said something like that, too. I can see why you'd be worried, but don't ya think you're exaggerating a bit?"

"No, we are not exaggerating! Besides, you have been gone so long, how could you possibly know? Lika has gained spiritual power far beyond my own." The old man explained. "Her power is now the key to saving the land of Kamui!"

"Huh? Are you saying Lika's power can defeat those demons?"

"Not exactly. There is another reason we need her power. It is for Ezofuji, the protector deity of Kamui."

"Ezofuji?"

"Issun, quit asking questions. This explanation is taking long enough as is." I chided irritably.

"As you know, Ezofuji is formed from two active volcanoes. Each year, I recite the Volcanic Incantation. That triggers an eruption that warms this frigid land of Kamui. But the demons' power has plunged Ezofuji into an icy slumber. Day by day, Kamui grows weaker and weaker, colder and colder. If we don't have Lika recite the Volcanic Incantation soon, the land of Kamui will become an icy tomb for us all!"

"Why don't you just recite the incantation yourself, old man?"

"Seriously, Issun. Just shut up."

"I would if I could! But I no longer have the strength to pray in this raging blizzard."

"Any idea where Lika could be?"

The poncle earned himself a wolf slobber bath.

"That's the problem! We've searched high and low for that girl with no luck. Still, there is one place we have yet to look."

"And where would that be?" Ammy inquired, since Issun was still trapped in my mouth. I gave my friend a death glare.

"Yoshpet, the mysterious forest of deception!"

I finally spit Issun out. "Sounds fun."

"I caught a faint whiff of Lika emanating from Yoshpet. After all, I do have the keenest nose of all the Oina tribe! I suspect she could be somewhere around here on your map. I'd like you to conduct a thorough search of that forest."

"You've gotta be kidding me. I wouldn't touch that place with a 10-foot-pole!"

"O white and silver wolves, you are our last hope!"

"Not me?" Issun whined.

"Not by a long shot, bug boy."

"…"

"Chief Samickle must remain here to protect the villagers and Oki has left the village on some fool's errand."

"Hey, don't talk trash about Oki! He's awesome!"

"You're the only ones left!"

"Hold on a minute, old man." Issun interrupted. "Do you even know who these two are?"

"Do not mock me, little sprite!" Kemu suddenly snarled. "That pure white coat…those crimson markings…that silver fur…those vibrant purple streaks…and those divine instruments…these are none other than the legendary wolves, Shiranui and Shamiterasu!" Those names are known in this distant land of Kamui. But I never dreamed the legendary wolves live!"

"Well, actually, these two here are-" Issun was cut off.

"Shiranui, Shamiterasu, please! You must help us! Lika must recite the Volcanic Incantation soon. Without her, the land of Kamui will become an icy tomb! I beg you. You must find Lika! I had warned the villagers to be wary of strangers, but I will make a special exception for you. And I will open the village's far gate that leads to Laochi Lake. You should get what you need from the village before you set out."

"Well," I stood up. "Let's go do everything we can around the village."

(Time Skip: After blooming clovers, digging up treasure chests, feeding animals, finding sun fragments, and way too much girl talk…)

"All right, you two, just shut up for one second." Issun interrupted our conversation about Oki once we had stepped off an origin mirror. "This is the altar where the sacred sword Kutone was enshrined. There's a great view of Laochi Lake and Ezofuji from here. That's why they come here to pray to the mountains each year. Too bad the sacred sword isn't here now."

"Hey, at least it's being put to good use…probably." I defended.

"Most likely." Ammy nodded.

"Maybe."

"Hopefully."

Issun quickly changed the topic. "The alter is also dedicated to the Ark of Yamato. It's said the ark has been frozen in Laochi Lake for countless seasons. Look, you can see it down there in the frozen lake."

"Pretty. Can we go now?"

"That's the Ark of Yamato." I was tempted to bash my head on the nearest rock. "Ezofuji and the Ark of Yamato…this is a very sacred place for the Oina tribe."

"Oh, hey! Look! A random treasure chest!" I said in mock excitement and opened said chest. It contained a scroll titled _Another Civilization._ "Issun, read it."

"Because you asked so kindly." The poncle replied sarcastically. "Modern Nippon offers mysteries that cannot be easily explained: Devices that even scholars in the capital are unable to decipher…stone artifacts that endow the wearer with special abilities…they are thought to be evidence of a civilization beyond our own. My great-grandfather spoke often of such matters. He had traveled to the windy plains of Taka Pass for brush training. While there, he noticed a strange light tracing an arc in the sky. The light eventually settled in the area of Sasa Sanctuary. Great-grandfather graveled there the following day. Where the light had landed, he saw a mysterious symbol floating in midair. It is not uncommon to hear such tales repeated here in Nippon. Whether one believes in this otherworldly civilization or not, it would seem that many among us certainly want to believe. I am not ashamed to say I count myself among their ranks."

All I could think about was the massive plothole Clover made. Either there was a random symbol in Sasa Sanctuary before the bamboo rocket incident, or Kaguya was an old lady. Yes, I _am_ immature enough to look past the point and spot stuff like that.

Aside from that, all we really did was walk up the path to Ezofuji, walking into a random house near a gate. We also accidentally fell of the cliff (Don't ask how.) and stumbled upon a spring that, once we dumped in a crapton of yen, upgraded our powerslash. And we got enough praise to upgrade our solar energy again, but that's irrelevant.

"Um…hi. We were told by various people to come see you." I said awkwardly to the Oina woman in the house.

"I know who you are! Yes, those divine looks of yours are unmistakable. You're the legendary wolves Shiranui and Shamiterasu, aren't you?"

"Actually," I sat down and randomly wondered for a second why she had two small owls on either side of her mask. "My friend is Shiranui reincarnated, but I'm not Shamiterasu. She had golden fur with blue markings." I explained.

"Oh…I see." The Oina nodded.

"Wow…they've heard those names here, too."

"Late reaction there, bug boy."

Issun was quiet for a second. I assumed he was glaring at me. "Well, I suppose Shiranui's legend _did_ travel across the sea to Kamui. Guess it really resonates with the Oina 'cause they're so spiritual."

Tuskle gasped in surprise. "Oh! Issun! It's been quite a while. So you're still alive!"

"Heh heh. I ain't ready to kick the bucket yet! I just left on a little trip. That's all!"

I gave him a sideways glance. "Yeah, because in his world, traveling all around Nippon with a goddess on an adventure classifies as a 'little trip'. I honestly don't think I want to know what a big trip would be."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're safe. As you can see, we haven't been so lucky here in Kamui. Since the monsters were revived, many people have lost their lives."

"Yeah, we've heard all about it." Issun said. "So what's with those demons coming back? And where the heck is Lika?"

Tuskle paused. "Hmm…the demons have shut themselves up in Ezofuji's Wawku Shrine. They're responsible for the fierce blizzard raging throughout Kamui. We're managing to keep some of it at bay thanks to Affun Gate, but when the day comes, Kamui is sure to freeze over completely. That's not what worries me most, though. What worries me is how the demons were revived in the first place. Kemu noticed it as well, but just before the demons made their return, a dark force traveled here from the Southern Land. We both felt an evil energy flowing into Kamui. That's when the demons woke up, as if in response to it."

"Southern Land…" Issun trailed. "Oh, she must mean Nippon! In other words, she's talking about the return of Orochi, you two!"

"There have been so many monsters here in Kamui that some even call it the birthplace of evil. I can't help thinking all this havoc in Nippon has its root in Laochi Lake, the eternally frozen lake at the foot of Ezofuji. I think the reason Kamui is called the birthplace of evil is because the Ark of Yamato that rests in the lake."

"The Ark of Yamato…anyone from Kamui knows that story!" Issun said. "It's said that the legendary iron ark fell from the heavens. My grandpa used to tell me that story. Long, long ago in the age of myths, an iron ark fell from the Celestial Plain above and sunk into Laochi Lake." Some ark that was. "The Celestial Plain is the land above where the gods dwell."

"Yes, Issun. We learned that back in Kusa village. Now continue the story with less redundant information, please." I told him in an exasperated tone.

"The gods are known as Celestials there. The ark that the Celestials were on came crashing down to this land. It was as if they were being chased by something. What they didn't know was that onboard with them were countless monsters. One by one, they were consumed, till all the Celestials were dead." That…was actually rather depressing. "Once the ark crashed, the monsters disembarked and started ravaging the lands. The world hasn't been safe since. It's said that monsters still rise from the lake's depths. That must be why they call it the lake of demons. That's all I know about it."

"Hm…I do have one thing to add to that." Tuskle told us. "And that's the story of the one surviving Celestial of the ark. The ark fell to this world from the Celestial Plain. It was full of monsters, which killed the Celestials on board. But the legend tells that there was one man who survived. He managed to escape from the hell that the ark had become. He then fled, going into hiding somewhere in our world." I heard Ammy murmur something under her breath, but I didn't catch what it was.

"Hmm…first time I've heard that." Issun commented.

"They say the reason monsters emerge from the ark in Laochi Lake is that the ruler of darkness is still searching for that man."

Ammy and I exchanged glances. _Yami._

"Ruler of darkness? Does he have a name?" Issun asked. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to eat him right then and there.

"It's all just a legend. No one knows if it's true or not." Tuskle dismissed. "No one has ever set foot on it. But the ark brought tragedy to our world, that's for sure. If the powers of darkness are gathering in Kamui, I believe it's because the Ark of Yamato is beckoning them." She was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "I apologize for chatting so much. Now, if you've come all this way, am I to assume you have Kemu's permission? I speak of permission to enter Yoshpet, the forest of confusion."

"Yep, that's right." Issun answered. "I really couldn't care less, but Ammy and Silver here are another story."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Next time we decide to go on a search mission for a missing person, we'll make sure to leave you behind." I growled.

Tuskle just ignored us. "The entrance to the forest is sealed with the Oina crest. It's our way of protecting the place from evil. There's no way that I can break the seal, but if the elder has ordered your entry, then I must comply. Shiranui, Terasugin, you may have the Oina amulet, Sewaprolo!" She handed us a trinket, which Issun stuffed into our inventory. "With that amulet, you can pass by the Oina crest unhindered and enter the forest of Yoshpet. If the elder has deemed it to be right, there can be no mistake. You are the ones who can find Lika! Find her before it's too late and Kamui freezes over!"

I was about to protest the new nickname, but I closed my mouth. It beat being thought of as Shami any day. (No offense to her whatsoever.) I gave a small nod, and we were off to Yoshpet!

…but not before we were interrupted by Kai, who was waiting for us at the entrance of Wep'keer.

"How did it go with Kemu?" She asked. "Did he want to talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, in addition to tanning our hides for no reason." I deadpanned.

"It was a little more than a leisurely talk." Issun added. "We were asked to go look for Lika in Yoshpet."

"Yoshpet…you mean the forest in the east? I don't think anyone's been there to look for her yet…"

"Well, that doesn't surprise me. I mean, that forest isn't exactly a prime tourist spot." Our poncle pointed out.

"Issun…" Kai trailed. "Are you really going to go back there?"

He suddenly started to rant. "Who says I'M goin' back? I was using the royal 'we'. I was talkin' about Furball and Fluffy here. Yoshpet is like another world. Get lost and you might never return. But don' worry. Ammy and Silver here will find Lika!"

Kai was silent for a moment, thinking. "If that's the case, I'll lead the way."

"What?" Issun and I both gasped.

"I know you must be worried, but we haven't got much time."

Issun's confusion was evident in his tone. "What do you mean?"

"The demons are waiting for the day of darkness." Kai explained. "It's a solar eclipse that occurs once every 100 years. Kamui will be in total darkness for a whole day when it happens. Without sunlight, and with the demons' blizzard going on, no living thing in Kamui will be able to survive the day. There are only a few days until the day of darkness. If Lika's not here to recite the volcanic incantation by then…" Her voice trailed off. We all knew the unspoken end to the sentence. "Amaterasu, Celia, you're no ordinary wolves, are you? Kemu wouldn't have asked you to do this otherwise. Amaterasu, maybe you're the reincarnation of the white wolf, Shiranui. You _both_ must be very strong if you can cope with Issun." Despite the serious atmosphere, I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

"And your point is…?" The poncle was clearly unamused.

"Sorry…" Kai apologized, suddenly realizing her mistake. "Anyway, there's no time to lose! I'll lead you both into the forest, Amaterasu and Celia. Come when you're ready. I'm going ahead to the edge of the forest." She changed into wolf form and ran off.

I looked at Ammy. "Are we ready to go?

"Yep." She answered.

And with that, we finally went to Yoshpet without any more-

Oh, wait. We ran into the newest version of ogres, the bull charger. Here's a friendly tip: Use fireburst after it's dead. It gives you a crapton of demon fangs.

And then- Okay, I take it back. I forgot about Issun's small monologue.

"The eastern forest…the ancient people of Kamui dubbed it Yoshpet. It means 'consuming forest' in their ancient language. They say the forest will swallow you up if you lose your way. Kai said she'd be waiting for us here…I wonder where she is…"

And-

"Hm? Why, Amaterasu and Celia!"

-we ran into Waka.

"Bah, not that half-baked prophet again!" Issun complained. I agreed with him 100%.

"What are you looking for now, ma Cherie?" Waka inquired. "I'm still looking for you-know-what. But this cold sure is making it difficult."

"Like we really care, pretty boy! If you're gonna be doggin' our tracks like this, you'd better tell us who you really are!" He demanded.

Waka raised an eyebrow, a tiny smirk on his face. "Who I really am?"

"That's right! I mean, we already know you're up to no good!"

"Excusez-moi, but I don't know what you're talking about." He said innocently. "I'm just looking for a certain path. You could say I am a seeker of the eternal heavens."

"Aha!" Issun yelled out suddenly. "Now I know why you keep babbling on about a path to the heavens!" Oh, goodie. Conspiracy theory time. "You're planning a wolf murder! Then, you'll take Ammy's place in heaven!"

"...Wow."

Waka looked genuinely shocked. "Huh?"

Issun just chuckled, smugness practically overflowing in his words. "By that look I take it I've hit the nail on the head. That also explains why you keep showing up wherever we go. A path to the heavens? Bah! More like a highway to you-know-where!"

"You misunderstood me, my little bouncing friend." Waka had already gotten over how ridiculous Issun's theory was. "The path to the heavens I seek is not a vulgar thing such as that. My path to the heavens slumbers here in the land of Kamui."

"Are you done saying 'path to the heavens' yet?" I questioned boredly, really having nothing better to comment on.

"I seek a heavenly ark." Waka finished, ignoring me, as per usual.

"Heavenly ark?" Issun sounded confused.

The prophet nodded. "That's right. In Kamui, there is a ship of iron locked in ice. I can sense it now. It is almost within my grasp. You too know this, do you not, Amaterasu?"

"I swear, it's like you two always know all the important information and you like to leave us out of it or something." I complained under my breath.

"Hey! Leave Furball outta this!" Issun yelled.

"Well, I must bid you adieu. No need for prophecies this time. Au revoir!"

And then we _**finally**_ went into Yoshpet.

…That was a total repeat of Taka Pass.

* * *

><p>Am I the only one who remembers how many distractions stopped Celia from going to that place? .'<p> 


	30. Decisions decisions

All right, the 200th review has been passed! 8D Thank you to everyone who's reviewed. You're all epic people and you deserve to be on cookie island. (Oh, and about what I said this morning about the Orochi scout cookies...I checked again. They're not. [Thank Amaterasu. Those things apparently make you barf... .])

Anyways, on with the chapter! 8D

Chapter 27- Decisions, decisions

"I've been waiting for you, Amaterasu and Celia." Kai told us once we met up with her.

"Trust me, we've been waiting to meet you, too." I muttered irritably under my breath.

"Did you know that Yoshpet means 'consuming forest'?"

"Actually, bug boy told us about five minutes ago."

"Oh…" Kai paused awkwardly. "Well, it is said that those who lose their way can never escape. Even the monsters try to avoid the place as much as they can. Our tribe has long been entrusted with protecting this forest. That's why the entrance is sealed with the Oina crest. Recently, however, the forest's power has been weakening, so it's hard to know what might be awaiting us inside. But if we can make it deep inside the forest, we'll come to a special place. It's a secret place that humans can never reach. I had something of a connection with the place when I was small. That's why I know the way. Right, Issun?"

Said poncle didn't reply.

"There's a chance that Lika might be there. We're all depending on you two, Amaterasu and Celia! Well, it's time to begin our expedition into the forest. Run as fast as you can! Are you ready to go?"

"Of course!" Ammy barked.

"Let me warn you first. Do not underestimate this forest, okay? The tree pollen has the power to confuse beasts. We Oina can't stay in here long, and I doubt you can either. None of us want to get lost in the blizzard and die out here. So make sure you follow me and don't fall behind!" She backflipped into wolf form. "O spirits of the air, earth, and sea…protect us with your divine powers!"

I would've admitted right then and there that I was scared, but then I remembered that I was still the reckless one and I had to act like it. I forced myself to shove down my fears, just while we went though the forest, and ran along with Ammy and Kai, side-by-side with the Oina and goddess…

…desperately praying in my mind that I wouldn't die.

(Time Skip: 6 minutes 32.51 seconds later…)

"Never again." I said firmly, taking in huge gulps of air. That was the fastest I'd ever run in my entire life, the only other rivals being the races with Tobi. I even passed Kai a few times.

"You _do_ realize we'll have to go through that again to get back, right?"

I didn't reply for a full minute as my brain processed this. I then spewed out a stream of cuss words.

Kai payed absolutely no attention to my angsting. "Here we are. It's been a while since I was last here, so I wondered if I'd make it. You know, after all this time, it hasn't changed a bit! Amaterasu, Celia, this place is Yoshpet's little secret. Welcome to Ponc'tan, home of the poncles. I'm sure Issun will tell you a lot more about it."

"Ack…" Was the only response she recieved.

"Anyway, Kemu sensed Lika's presence here, right? If we don't find her before the day of darkness begins and she doesn't perform the volcanic incantation, Kamui will freeze over for good! We're really counting on you both, Amaterasu and Celia."

"Don't worry. We'll find her." Ammy promised, and we slowly made our way to the tree stump in the middle of the circle of green. It amazed me that plants and animals somehow survived there, in the middle of Yoshpet. It even seemed to get brighter as we set foot on the grass.

"This place hasn't changed a bit." Issun commented. "Ammy, Silver, the poncle village, Ponc'tan, is in this tree stump. Too bad you're both so big. I'm sure you'd like to go in there and chat with the locals."

And then the Lucky Mallet descended from the sky, landing right in front of us. All that was missing from the scene was a heavenly choir singing hallelujah.

"Hey, isn't that…?"

"The Lucky Mallet?" I guessed. "Why, yes it is. Amazing. I would've never imagined it to appear in our time of need!"

"Quit it with the sarcasm, Silver. I guess you two could visit Ponc'tan if you were smaller. Well, Furball, Fluffy? Ya gonna go in or what?"

"Of course we are!" I answered.

Issun was silent for a moment. Finally, he asked, "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Well, I suppose you could ask the villagers about Lika. But you'll have to go in by yourself. I ain't goin' in there! This slick helmet of mind could get ruined in such a gloomy place!"

I gave a wolfish shrug. "Suit yourself, bug boy." I glanced at Ammy. "You ready?"

She nodded. "Whenever you are."

"All right, mallet!" I gave a tiny smirk. "Do your stuff!"

The Lucky Mallet complied. It glowed yellow and appeared to be hitting the air, and I felt myself shrink with each swing until it suddenly stopped. A mysterious force caused Ammy and my to float up into the air and into the hole in the tree stump.

(Time Skip: I'm starting to feel like the loading screen or something…)

"Issun calls this place gloomy?" Was the first thing I said. Basically everything was made up of something plant-related. The ground underneath us felt spongy, and it was actually pretty fun to walk on. Almost everything was green, blue, or a cross between those two colors. I spotted to fluorescent glowing mushrooms nearby, and there were hundreds, maybe even thousands of bright little specks floating along through the air. The only words I could think of to describe the place were _light_ and _cheerful._

"This place is amazing." Ammy breathed. You know you've got a great place when the scenery awes even a goddess.

"You know how I said I wanted to live in Hana Valley? I take it back. I never want to leave Ponc'tan." I decided, earning a laugh from Ammy.

We followed the path of bright green and dull crimson leaves to a bridge made out of spiderweb. I'm not even sure how it wasn't sticking to our paws or we weren't slipping through the holes, or even how it was able to support our weight, but at the moment, all I could think about was how fun it was to walk across. Bouncy bridge beats spongy ground any day.

I was practically mesmerized by the water flowing out of the pool in the center of the village. It appeared to shimmer and sparkle all the way down to the lake of water at the bottom of the tree stump. I won't even start on the water around the giant mushroom that seemed to be the centerpiece of Ponc'tan.

Ammy pulled me away from the pretty water- with much difficulty- and up the path directly across from us. We were about to go into the house at the end of it, but we were so kindly interrupted by the duo of poncles standing on either side of the door.

"Hold it right there!" The one on the right shouted.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Oh, great. It's Sasa Sanctuary all over again."

"You should've been conscious while we tried to get into the dragon palace." Ammy commented dryly.

I winced. "Ouch."

"Are you two some kind of wolves?" The one on the left questioned.

"No," I gave him a withering look. "We're aliens from the planet Zergon and we plan to conquer this tree stump in the name our leader, Mangi." I could hear Ammy chuckle softly.

"You can't be ordinary wolves if you got into Ponc'tan like this." The right one said.

"No, we were just born with birth defects. We've always been the size of a pea."

"We demand that you introduce yourselves!" The left one pointed his weapon at us.

We both kept our mouths shut, staring at them like we were just a couple of dumb wolves.

The poncle on the left put his hands on his hips. "That's weird. We can usually understand animals." And they never noticed my sarcastic comments? That's rather pathetic.

"I have no idea what's going on inside these wolves' heads!" The right poncle sounded almost panicked.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Ammy and I exchanged confused glances. These two were pathetic excuses of poncles.

"But this strange make-up and Divine Instruments look so…"

"I have a feeling I've seen them somewhere before, too."

I shrugged, took one step forward, and was promptly stopped by the poncle on the right.

"H-h-hold it right there!" He stuttered.

"I remember where I recognize you from!"

Give him a frosted smiley face sugar cookie.

"You look just like the wolf in the scroll at old Ishaku's house!"

"Does that mean you're friends of our chief Ishaku?"

"Yes, I am." Ammy finally spoke.

"I thought so." The right poncle nodded.

"Then I suppose we'd better let you in."

"This is the home of Ishaku, chief of the poncles."

"He's resting inside at the moment. Please go on in."

"He's old and has become quite weak."

"His eyes are particularly bad, so keep that in mind."

"Make sure you don't cause him any trouble."

(Time Skip: In Ishaku's house…still feel like a loading screen…)

"Hm? Hmmmmm? I recognize that smell! Who's there?" The old man in the house, probably Ishaku, demanded.

Ammy just barked in response.

The old man jumped in shock. "No…it can't be…but I'd know that bark anywhere. You must be… A-Ammy?"

"The one and only." She replied with a smile.

_She's been stuck with me waaay too long, _I decided.

"Ammy! It _is_ you!" I could already see tears forming in the poncle's eyes. "When you departed from this world after that brutal battle, I never imagined I would see you again! My eyes have started to fail me I my old age, but…but I can sense it. I can sense the tears you're trying to hide, too."

I looked at my friend, who didn't' appear to even be thinking about crying. She sat down awkwardly, and I did the same.

Ishaku crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Yes. Go ahead and ignore me. That's the Ammy I know."

"I think it's just karma for ignoring the wolf right next to her." I commented with a small smirk.

"Hm?" He seemed dumbfounded. "Shami? …No, your voice sounds nothing like hers."

"Thank you for having more logic than old man Kemu."

"You definitely talk just like her, though." The poncle elder decided."Well then, who are you?"

"Celia. Human-teenager-turned-wolf, Amaterasu's friend and sidekick, the one who's usually ignored by everyone, the sarcastic comment maker 5000, founder of the we-hate-Waka club, master of the Tsuta Ruins. Take your pick."

Ishaku stared at me for a second. "I'll just call you Silver. Anyways, I don't know how you managed to make yourselves so small, but that rudeness leaves me in no doubt of who you are!"

"You recognize a goddess by how rude she is?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I do. I'm no longer the young boy you remember me as, Ammy. I've grown to become the leader of Ponc'tan. Yes, I am the legendary swordsman, Ishaku!"

"Self-proclaimed~" I sang under my breath.

"I've gone up in the world since we last met, wouldn't you say?" Ammy just stared at him. "You can give me that look, but I know you're impressed! But really…I'm sensing something about you that worries me. Your divine powers have weakened considerably. I assume you haven't retrieved all 13 of them yet, have you?"

"Not exactly…" Ammy answered, giving a sheepish smile.

"How powerful is that last brush technique? Jeez!" I wondered aloud.

"Things certainly have changed since we last fought together." Ishaku sighed. "People no longer have faith in the gods like they used to. So I suppose it's only to be expected that you're weaker now. It's sad to see you without your old strength. But let me tell you straight, Ammy. In your current state, you can't possibly fight off the powers of darkness."

An awkward silence ensued.

Ishaku quickly tried to get rid of it. "So tell me…don't you have a companion traveling with you this time?"

"I don't count?" I pouted.

"Is that a no? You mean you two came all this way alone? I wasn't expecting to see you with anyone in particular, mind you. Oh, well…nevermind. It's no big deal."

"Riiight…"

"Ammy, Silver, I'm sure you both already know this, but…in your current states, you can't defeat the ruler of darkness. We poncles always knew that darkness would come one day. That's why we've been training to be Celestial Envoys."

Ammy and I shared a glance. "Um…what's that?"

"You seem to have forgotten absolutely everything!" Ishaku exclaimed irritably. "Celestial Envoys are messengers of the gods. The gods cannot live on unless people believe in them. We poncles are the only ones who can communicate with gods. And we train as artists to teach the world their divine power. Then only the very best of us are chosen to be given the honor…the honor of being named a Celestial Envoy! I was the 6th Celestial Envoy when I traveled with you, Ammy, but I'm old now, and I'm not as strong as I used to be. So I decided to take everything that I've learned, and teach it to my people! I've been very strict, but it's payed off. Now almost all of them have what it takes to be a Celestial Envoy! So, Ammy. Take a look around the village and talk to them. It's up to you to decide who will be the 7th Celestial Envoy. Whoever you chose will accompany you on your journey. Their amazing paintings will show the world your divine power. If people believe in you, your powers are sure to return. Then, and only then, will you be able to defeat the darkness."

"Well," I started. "Let's go find you an Envoy, Ammy!"

(Time Skip: Outside Ishaku's house...still a loading screen...)

"Why didn't we just mention Issun?" I questioned as we walked down the path of mushrooms...at least, I think that's what they were...

"Because we both know Issun is Ishaku's grandson. Judging by what Oki said about him leaving Kamui, they're not exactly on good terms." Ammy answered as we took a left.

"Yeah, I know." I sighed. "...Why are we picking out a Celestial Envoy, anyways? Issun..." I trailed off.

Ammy stopped walking and looked at me. "The poncle outside would be my first choice as well. But I'm not sure he'll be up to it. Let's talk to at least a few people before we make our choice." And with that, she walked into the house in front of us.

(Time Skip: Inside the house...loading screen...)

"Huh? You're a bit small for wolves, aren't you?" The poncle girl inside commented. "And it looks like you're wearing some kind of strange make-up. You're the first visitors in this village who aren't poncles. My name's Miya. Pleased to meet you! You know, there was a lost child in the forest the other day."

My ears perked up instantly. "There was? Where'd she go?"

"She wandered even deeper into the forest and disappeared through the spirit gate, looking almost possessed." Miya reported.

"Spirit gate?" Ammy tilted her head.

"The spirit gate is a relic that lies deeper inside the forest. It's a strange gate that takes you to another place and time."

"Well, that sounds convenient." I commented.

"But people say that opening the gate invites misfortune."

"...nevermind."

"We poncles always make sure we stay clear of it. But when I saw the girl wandering deeper into the forest, I decided to follow because I was worried about her. I saw the gate open the moment she stepped before it. And then it was like she'd been swallowed up! Do you think I should tell the elder about this, wolfies?"

We didn't answer her question.

We were already running for Ishaku's house.

(Time Skip: The official loading screen brings you to Ishaku's house.)

"What is it?" Ishaku asked us as soon as we burst into his house. We both just stared at him. "Hmph. Ignoring me again, are you? It doesn't matter. I can tell what you're thinking anyway. You're thinking about the spirit gate, aren't you?"

"Ding ding ding. We have a winner." I replied sarcastically.

"Only a fool would be interested in something like that!" Ishaku yelled. "That loathsome gate invites misfortune, I tell you!"

"Well then, we're complete and utter fools. Now tell us about the dang gate." I demanded in a no-nonsense tone, narrowing my eyes.

The poncle sighed, then went into story telling mode. "If you open it, you'll be engulfed in a vile, sinister air. There's no reason in the world you'd ever need to open it!" He unsheathed his sword. "Anyway, it can't be opened without my trusty sword, Denjimaru! Nevermind that. How's your search for a Celestial Envoy going? It must be hard to choose with all the talent here!"

"Um..." Ammy trailed as Ishaku put away his sword. She shot me a desperate look, and I just replied with a tiny shrug.

"What? Is there something you two want to tell me?" He asked. "Just for the record, I don't have a grandson anymore! That no-good rascal gave up on his training and ran away with one of my treasured paintings! He's no longer a grandson of mine! I've washed my hands of him!"

Ammy and I took a few steps backwards, then turned and ran out the door, not stopping until we reached the origin mirror.

"Well, that was awkward." I commented once I caught my breath.

Ammy looked towards the entrance of Ponc'tan. "Issun. He'll be the 7th Celestial Envoy."

I stared at my friend. "Are you sure you don't want to talk to the other poncles?"

"Positive." She gave me a sideways glance and smiled. "Let's get out of here."

(Time Skip: Serving as a loading screen since less than once chapter ago!)

"You done yet?" Issun questioned after he jumped onto my head. "...What? It looks like you two want to say something...the spirit gate? Are you tellin' me Lika went through it?"

"Actually, that's just what you randomly guessed we were thinking, but yeah." I replied.

Issun laughed. "You're both easy to read as a book. Well, I ain't gonna go in there, either. It's nothing but trouble."

"You sure have been opting out of a lot of our activities recently." I commented dryly.

"Well, if you have to go, ask that old man Ishaku to be your guide-" Our official Celestial Envoy was cut off by another poncle's voice.

"Issun...? Is that really you?"

"Who's there?" Issun demanded.

A small golden ball of light came bouncing out of the tree stump and stopped in front of us. "Issun! It's me, Miya!"

"Mm? Oh! Miya!" Issun suddenly remembered the young poncle girl.

"So you've finally come home!" She cheered happily. "And I bet you've become a real Celestial Envoy! Just like grampa Ishaku and everyone knew you would be! But why won't you come into the village? Oh, I get it! You don't want to go see him, right?"

"Put a cork in it!" Issun yelled.

Miya stopped bouncing for a second. "What?"

"And what's with this Celestial Envoy business? Gimme a break! What good would it do to become something like that?"

Ammy and I shared a glance, having a short conversation with our eyes.

_Should we tell him he's officially a Celestial Envoy?_ I asked.

_Now probably isn't the best time,_ Ammy replied.

"I'd rather live happy and carefree!" He finished.

"I can't believe you'd say that..." Miya trailed. She sounded close to tears. "So does that mean you don't paint anymore? We poncles are supposed to help people believe in the gods. Otherwise the gods will remain forever powerless, remember?"

Issun's patience was wearing thin. "I said, put a cork in it! If you like painting so much, go for it! But you can count me out! Go hawk your silly ideas and hairbrained plans somewhere else!"

"Issun!" Miya whined.

"Go away! We have urgent business beyond the spirit gate!"

The poncle girl gasped. "What?"

"Listen, I don't have time to help you with your boring old paintings." Issun told her irritably. "Let's get outta here, you two!"

"Issun, wait!"

I gave Miya a look that said, _sorry_, then ran off deeper into Yoshpet, Ammy right behind me.

(Time Skip: Is this chapter nearly over already? Oh, and loading screen.)

"Okay, you two..." Issun started. He sounded slightly uncertain. "The spirit gate is further on this way. Even we poncles hardly go that far into the forest. Nobody knows when it was made or even who made it. They say that opening the gate only invites disaster. But I doubt we'll find any curiosity seekers around there. After all, no one but the chief of the poncle clan can open it. Plus, the road to the forest depths is like a maze. It's even more confusing than the part Kai guided us through! But if you're really bent on going through there, I'll be your guide. What's it gonna be, you two?"

I mentally groaned. I really didn't want to have to do it again, but I remembered my reputation and put on a smirk. "Well, here goes nothing!"


	31. A blast from the past

I come to bring you breaking news. When eating at subway, tuna+honey mustard=love. That is all.

Anyways, here's the next chapter of OACA! After that double update last week, I've only got one more complete chapter, (Not including this one.) so I'd better get my butt into gear and write like the wind this weekend, huh? XD Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters! (This story actually hit 200! *dies*) Remember, reviews get you a ticket to cookie island! We've got Ipads now~ And speaking of reviews, there's gonna be some extra chapters at the end of this story, and one of the things that will go on in those chapters are answering questions from you people! 8D So ask as many questions as you want. As long as there aren't huge spoilers involved, you'll receive an answer from anyone in the OACA cast! You all might want to get on it before I finish typing the bonus chapter. XD

Forward and onward to the chapter with an uncreative title! *strikes a pose*

Chapter 28-A blast from the past

(Time Skip: 5 minutes, 54.09 seconds later…why the heck am I being used at the beginning of a chapter?)

"This is it." Issun announced. "That big ol' hunk of wall right there is the spirit gate." Once we got closer, the poncle jumped off my head. "This spirit gate…nobody knows when it was built or even who built it. All we know is that it's been here since the age of myths. And that's a whole lot older than even old man Ishaku! The poncle chief's clan has served as its gatekeeper for generations. It's said that needlessly opening this gate only invites disaster, but I have no idea what kinda disaster it might be. I'm gonna force this gate open! After all…we have no other choice if Lika's on the other side of this thing!" He unsheathed his toothpick-for-a-sword. "Stand back, you two." We followed the instructions, then Issun jumped in the air, slicing the door of the spirit gate in half. The two sides pulled away from each other, revealing a golden glow that felt warm on my fur.

"Boy, old man Ishaku would have my head if he knew what I just did." Issun said nervously. "Let's just keep this between us three…just look at that light." He changed the topic. "Looks to pretty to be anything that invites misfortune."

"Looks can be deceiving." Ammy pointed out.

Issun turned around to face us. "What're you lookin' at, Furball?" He asked the goddess sitting next to me. "The door's open, ain't it? Do you two have the guts to go on through it? If one of you turns back now after all I've been through, I swear I'll…hm? Oki?"

Ammy and I both spun around to face said Oina warrior. I felt my pulse speed up and my mind went a little fuzzy…I shook my head to clear it. It was not the time to start, for lack of a better term, fangirling…ugh, I seriously hate to call it that.

"Hello again, Issun and…Amaterasu and Celia, was it?" Oki greeted coolly. I couldn't fight off the stupid grin that came onto my face. "I thought I'd come and join the fun."

"Yup, saving the world is a boatload of it. I should know, we've done it twice now." I replied with a small shrug.

Oki stared at the wall in front of him. "I've never seen the Spirit Gate open before. They say opening it only invites disaster."

"What're you doing here anyway?" Issun questioned. "And how the heck did you get this far into Yoshpet to begin with?"

"Ah, you must be talking about this forest's power to confuse beasts. Indeed, we half-man, half-beast Oina should feel the effects." He unsheathed his weapon and pointed it at us. We instinctively got into battle positions. "But it seems the sacred sword Kutone has kept me safe. This is no surprise, as the sword itself has driven me here. _The wall of ice shall shatter and open the way to the heavens when Kutone glows silver._ As the prophecy foretells, when Kutone starts glowing, it is a sign that the monsters shall soon fall." He held his sword up to the sky. "What's more, some people say that even the heavens will be within reach."

"What the heck's that supposed to mean?" Issun asked.

I gave him a sideways glance. "It means Waka will appear to annoy the living daylights out of us all."

Oki chucked softly. I'll admit, if I was human, I would've blushed slightly. "Anyway, it hasn't even begun to glow." He slashed the air a few times. "I must not have slain nearly enough monsters yet. If that's the case, this spirit gate should be just the thing! I'll give those monsters of misfortune a taste of Kutone!" He walked past us and was about to enter the spirit gate, but he was stopped by Issun.

"Oki, wait! We have on idea what's on the other side of this thing. All we know is Lika somehow ended up going through it. I guarantee you're gonna find more than you bargained for in there!"

"That's what I'm hoping for…for the sake of Kutone!" And with that, he walked the last few steps, then disappeared.

"…well, you've gotta give him points for bravery." I commented, getting into a running position alongside Ammy.

"No!" Issun yelled. "Wait, you two! Maybe this isn't such a good idea…"

I smirked. "Too late to change our minds now!" Then we jumped through the gate, prepared to take on whatever waited on the other side.

(Time Skip: On the other side of the spirit gate…)

The first thing I noticed about the place was that it was green. Not fluorescent green like in Ponc'tan, but plant green. Grass green. Tree green. Nippon green. You get the idea.

"Hm? This doesn't look to bad." Oki commented from beside us. Yes, I was mentally squeezing inside because I was standing right next to him. Shut up. "What was all that talk about the spirit gate and misfortune?"

"Don't jinx it." I warned.

"Hey…this place looks familiar…" Issun trailed. "Yeah, that's it…it looks just like Kamiki Village." Well, that sure explained all the green.

"Kamiki? You mean that tiny village in Shinshu Field?"

I nodded. "Yup. Pretty cool village. Although I wonder why the heck people apparently consider it disastrous."

"That's where the whole legend of Orochi began."

"…Oh. Now that makes sense…kinda."

"I've never crossed the sea and set foot on Nippon before. The divine guidance of Kutone must have led me here! The monsters shall now taste its cold steel!"

"Yeah, go nuts!" I called sarcastically after he left. "Although I seriously doubt imps are gonna make Kutone glow."

Issun had a different opinion entirely. "No, Oki! Wait! What about Lika?...he's gone…"

"We can handle finding Lika ourselves." I told him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…anyway, this really is Kamiki Village, isn't it? But I'm getting a different vibe from here…hm? That's strange."

"What?" I questioned.

"Why's there a full moon again already?" My gaze instantly went to the sky, and I saw that the poncle was right.

"Hey…isn't that where Sakuya's tree was?" Issun asked as we passed a tiny sprout. "What's a dinky little seedling doing here?"

"This is getting weirder by the second…" I decided.

"Hm? Wait a shecond…" Ammy and I turned to stare at the little girl we hadn't noticed before. She wore a pink kimono that looked familiar…"

"Aaand I stand by my previous statement."

'You're shome kinda gods, aren't you?" The girl stared at us, then smiled. "I'm a wood shprite! They call me Shakuya!"

"What's she say her name is? Shakuya?"

"What, are we in a parallel universe or something?" I deadpanned.

"Sounds kinda familiar…"

"No crap, bug boy."

I felt Issun glare at me. "Anyway, where the heck is Sakuya's tree?"

"Shakuya?" The girl tilted her head cutely. "That's me!"

"Yeah, yeah. We know already, kiddo." Issun said dismissively. "We grownups are busy right now. Why don't you go and play?

I raised an eyebrow as we began to walk away. "Grownups? Ammy's not even two months old, I'm fourteen and…how old are you again?"

"Fifteen. But we're older than her, and that's all that matters." Issun replied.

"I really wish I were human right now for the sole purpose of being able to say 'hand, meet forehead'."

"You could always say 'paw, meet forehead'."

I smiled in mock enthusiasm. "Oh, yeah! And then right after that, I can say, 'Arm, meet cast. Again'."

This conversation/argument/whatever you see it as went on until we walked onto the turnip field, where Mushi's mom was apparently shocked to see us. And angered.

"Hm? You don't fool me, you dumb wolves!" She randomly shouted at us. "Pretendin' to come sniffin' out a sacrifice for Orochi, while all the time you're just waitin' to dig up my field!"

"Huh? Gimme a break, lady! I've got too much on my mind as is." Issun said irritably. Mushi's mom tried to punch Ammy, and we decided we'd better make a getaway.

"What the heck is this? A recreation of back when Orochi was alive?" I questioned as we ran away from the woman. My theory was proved further when we ran into Mushi.

"Hey! You're Shiranui!" He exclaimed.

I sighed. "And I'm Invisible. Nice to meet you."

"We don't need any of Orochi's familiars 'round here!"

"Shiranui?" Issun questioned. "Orochi's familiar? Does that have something to do with our slaying Orochi? Heh heh. Well, you're gonna have to wait in line for an autograph."

"Shut up! The only one who's gonna get slain is you, monster!"

"Monster? What's gotten into you, Mushi/!"

Our only response was being chased away by an angry kid, leaving us all seriously wondering what the heck was going on. Well, we talked to all the villagers with varying degrees of success, (As in, absolutely no success at all.) but the weirdest encounter by far had to be…

"I…am…the greatest…" Yup. The lazy warrior.

Issun chuckled. "Pops hasn't changed a bit." This also meant that a simple tackle woke him up.

"What the-? Huh…?" He stood up and stretched. "Ah…I slept like a log! I must've dozed off while training to defeat that no-good Shiranui! Hm? Who are you two? What do you want with me? I'm Nagi, the greatest warrior ever."

…What the heck?

"Wait a minute…" 'Nagi' suddenly gaped at us. Mainly Ammy. "Y-y-you're…Shiranui!"

"You still dreaming or something, pops?" Issun questioned skeptically. "I mean, greatest warrior ever? Gimme a break!"

"Oki would beat him any day." I agreed. "Too bad he went off to Shinshu Field. A fight between him and Susano is something I'd pay to see…hm, I wonder if we can bribe Oki back here…"

'Nagi' stood up straight and crossed his arms. "You brought along a friend and a pea-sized monster this time?" He pulled out his sword. "Well, I have you now Shiranui, you monster!"

"Monster?"

"Seriously, he's had waaay too much sake for one night."

"C'mon! Wake up, pops! You must still be dreaming!" Issun decided. "And what's with this Shiranui business? You still obsessed with the past?"

"Issun, he's always been obsessed with the past." I pointed out.

"The past? Quit speaking nonsense. Look at that moon!" He raised his sword and pointed it at said glowing white orb in the sky. "Tonight is when the moon waxes to its fullest! It marks the day when Orochi shall claim his human sacrifice."

Issun stopped bouncing. "Orochi?" The whole atmosphere seemed to get heavier, and everything went quiet. "Wait a second…what the heck's going on/! This sinister air…"

"Orochi has to be stirring." I realized. Ammy growled at the conclusion.

"How's that possible?"

"Hmph…too late to feign innocence, Shiranui. We know you come each year to size up Orochi's sacrifice. But this time things are going to be different." He held out his sword in front of him. "I, Nagi, shall put an end to your devilish work!"

"Orochi…Nagi…" Issun trailed, fear evident in his tone. "No, it can't be…right, you two? I mean…the spirit gate couldn't have sent us back to Kamiki Village 100 years in the past, could it?"

"Oooh crap…" My eyes widened at the legendary warrior standing in front of us. "It can…"

"And it did! Split up! Now!" Ammy ordered. I ran to the left, but Nagi only seemed concerned with 'Shiranui.' I pretty much watched the whole fight from the sidelines…whatever sidelines there are in a battle barrier.

Ammy hit Nagi three times with her glaive before backing off, jumping over the hero as he swung his sword at her. Nagi summoned glowing red daggers _on fire_, but in one powerslash they all laid useless on the ground. He tried the same attack in an attempt to make a getaway, but the goddess wasn't fooled for an instant, and with a few more hits, he was stunned. After five attacks, she tried using fireburst, but it didn't damage him much. (Although it was funny to see him on fire for a few seconds.) She attacked twice, dodged an attack, and got rid of more daggers in three powerslashes. She suddenly jumped in the air and attacked with Seven Strike equipped as a sub weapon, (How she took it without me noticing, I'll never know.) and after repeating this twice, Nagi was stunned once more. Once he was back to his senses, there was a small flurry of attacks that ensued, I swear the thing was censored by a small dust cloud, but Ammy emerged completely unscathed. She wasn't the reincarnation of Shiranui for nothing. After she took a steel fist sake from our inventory, the fight was pretty much over.

"Uh-oh…you knocked him out cold." Issun reported. "Wonder what's goin' on…I mean, he keeps calling himself Nagi. I thought he was Susano. Then again, he looks just like the statue of Nagi in the village! Hmm…that vibe in the village and the villager's reactions…and now this big ol' full moon! Now I'm positive."

"You weren't positive _before_ the battle?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Not exactly." He admitted. "But we really did go back to Kamiki Village 100 years in the past! I get it now. Everybody thought Shiranui came to the village before the festival to size up the next sacrifice. They thought Shiranui was Orochi's familiar or something."

"Good to see you did your history homework, Issun." I rolled my eyes.

"So that's why he called you Shiranui and wanted to fight you, Ammy." He continued. "…hey, wait a second…where's the real Shiranui then? Uh-oh, I have a bad feeling about this. I just hope our coming here hasn't totally messed up history!"

"Because everyone just loves time paradoxes!" I commented sarcastically.

"Hey, look. The villagers are all gathered in front of his house." Issun changed the topic.

I shook my head. "Déjà vu."

"Nagi! Please come out! We need your help!" The village elder begged. "Shiranui once again roams our village. It seeks to size up Orochi's next victim!"

"Too late, buddy. Ammy already kicked his butt…" I muttered.

"The moon is at its fullest tonight…and the dreaded Orochi…" A huge roar shook the whole area, and it was an exact repeat of what happened in the present. An arrow appeared, it shot towards the bridge where the villagers were standing, everyone narrowly dodged the projectile, and when everyone was back on their feet, the arrow was stuck in Nami's house.

"The accursed arrow has marked the home of the chosen maiden. This will be the 100th maiden since this terrible rite began! Must our village suffer such tragedy yet again? Poor Nami…to think we'd end up having to send you to that beast."

And, like I said, it was just a repeat with swapped dialogue.

"I believe in you, Nagi!" Nami said. "You have trained long and hard to slay the dreaded Orochi."

And yet he got his butt kicked by a wolf.

"I shall not lose faith! I'm not afraid to face Orochi in the Moon Cave. I know you will put an end to Orochi and this dreadful rite!" She then addressed the villagers. "I'm going to change into the white sacrificial robe. Please, everyone. Hide I your homes. It is not safe out here!" And then she ran off.

"Bah, that Orochi…" Issun complained. "I'm sick of him and his antics!"

"I'm just sick of all this déjà vu."

Our poncle suddenly gasped. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea knocking Nagi out like that…I mean, what about the legend?"

"I thought we've already discussed the screwing up history and time paradox stuff." I pointed out in exasperation.

"Well, Nagi disguised himself as the maiden to me sacrificed and then slew the dreaded Orochi." When did it ever say that in the prologue of Okami? "But how's he going to do that if he's out cold right here? This is gonna change history itself! What're we gonna do? We'll have to look for Lika later! We gotta think of something quick!"

An idea suddenly popped into my mind, causing me to smirk. "Ammy, Issun, I think it's time to play dressup…"

(Time Skip: This should be good…)

"Okay, this is our big chance, you two." Issun said as we all stood by the bridge, a good twenty feet away from the item we wanted. The only thing in between us and it was Nami…figuratively speaking, of course. The object was actually closer than the girl bathing in the water. "Let's snag that white sacrificial robe while she's busy bathing! You ready?"

"Not in the least." I said instantly. "I suck at anything stealth-related." I gave my wolf friend a sideways glance and an innocent smile. "Hey, Ammy?"

She gave me a withering look and sighed. "All right. I'll get the robe."

(Time Skip: Four attempts and 5 and a half minutes later…)

"Good job, Furball!" I heard Issun praise from near the water. "Now just slo-"

"Eeeeeek!" Nami turned around and screamed. "Help! Someone, help! Shiranui's prowling about the village again!" Ammy dropped the robe and ran back to the start, out of sight.

"Issun, I'm only going to warn you once." I spoke calmly. "Talk while you're near Nami again and I swear I will give you the longest wolf spit bath in all of history."

"Noted."

(Time Skip: One attempt later…amazingly…)

"Way to go, Ammy!" Issun cheered loudly. One glare shut him right up.

My voice was a low whisper. And now you see why Issun always got us caught and I didn't. "All right, time to attempt to fit Nagi into this…"

(Time Skip: It's official. I'm being over-used.)

"EYES. BURNING. NEED. BRAIN BLEACH. CANNOT. UNSEE. THE HORROR." I angsted over the loss of whatever sanity I had left after everything else horrible that had happened to me in the past…I couldn't even remember how long I'd been in Nippon now.

"Heh heh…doesn't he look pretty?" Issun laughed.

I gave him an unamused look. "He didn't look pretty while we were changing him."

"Well, now Nagi can pretend to be the maiden sent to be sacrificed. This should be just like the legend said! Right, you two?"

"I wouldn't know. I've never heard that part of the legend before." I shrugged.

Ammy nodded. "This should work…if we're lucky."

"It's not half bad, if I do say so myself!"

I glanced at Nagi again. "You sure about that, bug boy?"

"…no." He admitted. "But anyway, let's get on with it. Let's take him over to the Moon Cave before he wakes up. After all, he's all dressed up for his date with destiny!"

Ammy tossed Nagi onto her back, and all I could think was, _Destiny is going to be very disappointed._

(Time Skip: Like I said before, overused.)

"So this is Shinshu Field 100 years ago…" Issun trailed.

"Looks empty. Half of it doesn't look like it even exists." I noted dully.

"Well, you've given a piggy back ride to the Moon Cave before…although it was Kushi last time…the view, not to mention the smell, was a whole lot better last time."

"Please don't remind me." Ammy requested, giving a small shake to make sure Nagi didn't slip off her back.

I swished my tail in a circle. "Hey, at least we've got trees to bloom. Who knows what else we'll be able to get praise from here in the past?"

"We need to hurry to the Moon Cave!" Issun pointed out.

"Hurry smurry," I rolled my eyes. "If he happens to wake up, we'll just use veil of mist and run like hec-" I was cut off by a sound similar to a siren. We looked up to see a clay statue descend to the ground via what appeared to be a tractor beam.

Yeah, I couldn't figure out why, either.

"You ready to take down some clay soldier butt?" Ammy asked me with a smirk.

_Seriously, she really has been spending way too much time around me,_ I thought, but returned the smirk with my own. "Bring it."

Ammy powerslashed the huge group of enemies in front of us and I did the same, which resulted in quite a few of them already dying. We both went to attack separate clay dolls after that, and I set my sights on one, only powerslashing another when it got to close, killing it instantly. I growled in frustration when I galestorm wasn't the floral finisher, but I just spun around on my heels and aimed my attacks on another monster. It went down quickly, and at the last second, I used veil of mist, earning a demon fang. Ammy finished hers off while the mist was still in the air, automatically getting the floral finisher as well. After the fight was over and the battle barrier went down, I was surprised to notice that we got about 15,000 yen out of the fight. A glance over at my friend told me I wasn't the only one who noticed. Looking over the smaller, demon scroll-filled version of Shinshu Field, I felt another smirk appear on my face.

I had a feeling we weren't ever going to have money problems after this.

(Time Skip: Overused and abused. A lot of fights, bloomed clovers, and one more unit of solar energy later…)

I stared at the new enemies that had formed right in front of us right before we went up the steps to the Moon Cave. "Seriously? Can't we just save the world in peace?"

"I don't think it works that way, Fluffy." Issun pointed out. "Old man Ishaku told me about these. They're called Dogus. Just use whirlwind on 'em, and make sure to make the lines small. It'll last longer and give your ink time to regenerate."

I stared for a second. "Issun, I'd say you're a genius, but stuff like this only happens once in a blue moon."

"Hey!"

Ammy and I followed the instructions and finished the battle without a scratch on either of us, even earning a golden peach at the end of it. This made the reckless one a very happy camper.

"Hmm…there's no barrier this time." Issun observed as we walked up the steps to the Moon Cave entrance. "That Orochi must think no one would dare come in here."

"No one except us." I said softly.

"But we should still be careful no matter how unprepared that snake is." Issun reminded me, nervousness in his tone. "I mean, if you think about it, Ammy, you managed to slay Orochi 100 years ago, but you died, too. And you were at your peak back then!" I blinked in shock when I realized he was right. The thought never actually occurred to me… "Legend says you appeared each year around the time of the sacrifice. Back then you were called Shiranui and were said to be a monster."

"As we saw back in Kamiki." The goddess said dully, then whined when Issun jumped onto her nose, flattening her ears.

"How come you didn't just get rid of Orochi right away?" He asked curiously.

Ammy glanced over at me, like I knew the answer. "I…I can't remember."

Issun sighed. "Well, I'm sure you had your reasons. But I bet it made Orochi think you were a big fat chicken."

"We'll show him." I growled, narrowing my eyes at the cave in front of us.

Nagi decided to wake up at that moment, and after a few awkward seconds of us all staring at each other, Ammy whined and shook Nagi off her, sending the warrior falling to the ground. He quickly stood up and stared in shock at the surroundings. "Huh? Where am I?" He looked at himself and his eyes became the size of watermelons. "What in the world? Why am I wearing this?"

"You think he would've noticed the clothing first." I commented boredly.

"Hey, Pops! You finally came to!" Issun cheered. "Now you can pretend to be the human sacrifice and slay Orochi. Then Nami will fall for you big time!"

"You just make the greatest pep talks ever." I said, sarcasm clear in my tone, as I smirked and tried not to laugh.

"Thank you." He replied, every bit as sarcastic as me.

Nagi turned around to face us. "What are you talking about?" He shook his head, crossed his arms, and tried to look brave. Well, now we all know where his descendant got it from. "Oh, yes. Of course!" He pulled out his sword and pointed it to the sky. I could practically hear Susano's theme playing in my mind. "I am Nagi, the greatest warrior who ever lived!"

He was cut off by the ground shaking and a huge crash of thunder. Ammy spun around instantly, getting into a battle position and growling, and I did the same. The sky turned darker as clouds began to cover the moon, giving us barely any light to see with. The brightest thing I could spot was Ammy.

"Brace yourselves! Especially you, Silver! Here it comes!" Issun warned us both.

This time I was prepared for the fire head. As soon as it appeared, I jumped to the left and Ammy did a backflip. Nagi wasn't as lucky, and he ended up being captured and pulled back into the Moon Cave. We both started running into the cavern, but stopped when something flew over our heads. We turned around to see the barrier was up and Nagi was once again out cold, probably due to his head hitting a rock or something. Ammy and I both poked at the barrier for kicks and giggles, even though it was pretty obvious it wouldn't let up any time soon.

"Looks like Orochi can taste the difference between man and maiden!" Issun said, strangely optimistic about the whole situation. "Well, this is it, you two! Psych yourselves up! We're about to face Orochi in peak condition!"

"Joy." I said dully as I stopped messing with the barrier and closed my eyes for a few seconds. Then I turned around and looked at the long passageway. "C'mon. Let's go."

(Time Skip: In the part of the Moon Cave where Orochi actually is…)

"Hey, isn't that…" Issun paused, probably not able to believe his eyes. "Oki?"

I'll admit, all my nervousness disappeared, and despite being so close to a very dangerous enemy, I felt my heart speed up from something other than fear and my ears flattened in embarrassment. I tapped one of my paws on the ground idly, feeling awkward and out of place. I had to channel my discomfort into doing something.

"An evil power lured me to this cave." Oki said calmly, smoothly. It caused me to grin like an idiot and silently curse myself for doing so. "And now that you're also here, there can be no doubt. This must be Orochi's stronghold!"

The huge stone gate behind us closed, the ground began to shake, and we all seemed to notice the young girl wearing a green mask lying unconscious on top of Orochi's back at the same time.

"Hm? Ammy, there's someone passed out over there!" Issun yelled urgently and in shock. "Oh, no! It's Lika!"

We all stood in battle-ready positions, glaring at the bell as the ground around said object began to crack, it began to spin, and when the piece of ground was floating, seven heads appeared and faced us at the same time. Poor idiot lightning head popped up last, looking around in a confused manner, slightly ruining the moment.

"So this is the dreaded Orochi…" Oki somehow managed to keep his voice level while facing the ferocious monster.

"Ammy, Silver, this is the real deal!" Issun reminded us. "Remember, you just barely managed to slay Orochi at your peak. And in the end, you died, too!"

I gave a soft growl and a tiny over-confident smirk to try to encourage my friends. "Hey, you've got me now! Two heads are better than one, right?" When Ammy turned her head slightly towards me and gave a small, gracious smile, I knew that I had done my job.

"Fools!" Orochi's fire head boomed, its voice echoing across the arena, the sound bouncing off the walls to make it even louder. "How dare you stand in my way! I shall claim my 100th sacrifice and become god of the underworld! Then I shall bring eternal darkness upon all the land! But first, you shall pay for defiling my dark sanctuary."

I had a feeling if I could see Oki's face, there would be a calm smirk visible in his expression. "I am a stranger to these lands. Your words mean nothing to me. Now, Kutone shall feast on your blood. That should be more than enough to fulfill its need! " He flipped into wolf form and growled meanacingly.

"No, Oki! Wait!" Issun yelled, clearly desperate to stop the Oina warrior. "Lika's on Orochi's back!"

"I care not, for Orochi will be my ultimate offering to the sacred sword! Kutone will devour the beast down to the very marrow in its bones!"

"…I never knew Orochi even had bones, honestly."

Ammy took a step forward. "Oki, don't do this! Let us handle it! We can't put Lika in danger!"

"Kamui will be doomed no matter what if she is!" Issun added.

The Oina ignored all warning and protests, instead jumping off to do his own thing in an attempt to take Orochi down himself.

"Hey! This is bad! The sake's not even ready yet!" Issun fretted after he dumped the jug into the small mote around the monster.

I clenched my teeth and narrowed my eyes at the fire head. "It'll be fine. We can do this."

Ammy looked at me, gave a small nod, and ran off to take care of the darkness head while I stayed to deal with the fire head.

"Hey, buddy." I said calmly, like talking to a pet, as I equipped the fire tablet instead of the peace bell. "Listen, I know you've got things to do, maidens to eat, underworlds to become ruler of, but we have important things to do, too, and we'd really appreciate it if you'd just cooperate with us and let us kill you quickly." My only response was a few fireballs being uselessly launched at me. The fire head growled when it realized I wasn't damaged at all, and I took the chance to put some sake in its mouth. I frowned. "Okay, I think I'll take that as a no." A few more fireballs came my way. "A very passionate no." I just repeated the process when Orochi roared again, and then I ran off to the earth head.

This guy wasted absolutely no time to attack, instantly smashing its head into the ground and sending out a shockwave of earth. I powerslashed the poor dazed guy, and as soon as he woke up, he roared at me. I gave him some sake as an apology for cutting his face, but that just didn't seem to make him happy, and he attacked again, was stunned again, I powerslashed him again, he regained consciousness again, he growled again, he was intoxicated again, and I just realized this sentence horribly, horribly abuses the word again. I met Ammy on the top of Orochi's back and with the power of teamwork and the spamming of attacks, we got into the second stage of the fight.

Ammy followed me over to the earth head, and I stared at her while she shrugged. "Maybe this way will be quicker than last time." She said.

I nodded. "And safer." I looked up at the head, prepared to dodge, even though it took him about ten seconds before realizing we were right in front of him, and he did a basic attack, lunging at us and horribly missing.

"Go on ahead! I'll finish this one." Ammy told me. I nodded again, then ran off to get the next head dazed. This one decided to attack the second I arrived, shooting poison out of its mouth which moved towards me at a slow but steady pace. I jumped over it and used waterspout on Mr. Poison, but the pink cloud kept moving towards me at a slow, steady pace. I narrowed my eyes and scolded myself as I used galestorm. How I forgot to use that brush technique before, I'd never know. I made sure to blow it in my direction and jump over it again so it wouldn't end up hitting Ammy, who still looked a little preoccupied with the last head. I managed to take down the one I was on right before Ammy caught up to me, and together we made our way to the light head. We both jumped around and wove through the beams of destructive brightness, and a few powerslashes from both of us quickly put him in his place.

"I know I probably shouldn't jinx this," I said. "Really, really, _really_ shouldn't jinx this, but is it just me, or is this fight just as easy as last time?"

"It's not just you, Fluffy." Issun agreed as we ran over to the lightning head.

I gave a small sigh of relief. "All right, just making sure." I didn't want to become the mary-sue of Nippon or anything…I mean, it'd be awesome, but I figured if anyone deserved that title, it'd have to be Ammy.

The attacks didn't even come close to hitting us, just proving my theory even further, and we had to powerslash the head to get its attention back on us and to make it roar. After using waterspout and more powerslashes, we were onto the water head.

For some reason, he didn't even use his elemental attack, which was at least a bit more challenging than the rest to get through without sustaining damage. Not to mention after making him drunk he was _easily_ taken down with fire. Strong emphasis on easily.

All we needed to counter the wind head's attack was galestorm. And they teach you not to fight fire with fire- erm, wind with wind. Ammy told me to go on ahead again to take down the darkness head, so I just obeyed her orders and ran off to the next head. He just used the basic attack, so everything seemed simple enough. I told my friend to start on the fire head while I finished dealing with ol' darky. After being burned seven times in a row, I figured the guy was done, so I ran off to help Ammy.

"You ready to finish off the final head?" She asked me with a smile.

"Ready when you are." I replied with my own grin, but when I looked ahead of me my eyes widened and I had no time to react to the fire head as it swung down and swatted Ammy off to the left, then me to the right. I let out a groan as I hit the wall hard and fell to the ground. "Ugh…" I forced myself up to my feet, then backed away in shock and terror as a fireball landed right in front of me, sending a wave of searing heat through me. That wasn't supposed to happen…

_Oh dear Moegami,_ I felt my stomach drop as I came to a realization. _The hit somehow knocked the fire tablet out of our inventory!_

"Gah!" I jumped to my right, narrowly avoiding another fireball. The flames sprung onto my fur, and I did a quick stop, drop, and roll, running away from another deadly ball of fire that was aimed at me. I felt myself shaking in fear, and I looked around the arena in fear. "Ammy? Where are you?"

"Over here!" I sighed in relief as I heard my friend's voice and saw her coming up from behind Orochi. I started to run towards her, but I was stopped dead in my tracks by the darkness head coming in between us. I yelped in shock and took a few steps backwards.

"I thought I killed yo- ah!" I screamed as I was knocked into the gate by the fire head. My head felt fuzzy and my body ached. _Keep moving. Don't get hit by a fireball._ I whimpered as I got to my feet again and scooted to the left, trying to be quick enough that I wouldn't get fried but slow enough that I could conserve my energy.

"Celia!" Ammy yelled when she spotted me. Growling, she spun around to face the fire head, but the atmosphere suddenly turned dark and I felt all my power leave me. _The darkness head,_ I realized in frustration. I walked forward to help out Ammy, expecting to have my ink back when I reached her, but once I was standing in front of the fire head, we still didn't have our powers.

"What the heck?" I looked over at Ammy helplessly as we both jumped backwards and away from the fire head, which had lunged at us, then away from an actual fireball that had landed between us.

"The hit must've taken out the golden inkpot," Ammy realized. "We have to wait longer to get our ink bac-" Her sentence was cut off by a black bud that fell next to her and bloomed, opening and letting out black smoke, which just made me feel even more powerless than I already was.

I growled. "As long as we don't have the golden ink pot, we can kiss our chances of winning goodbye." I muttered, lowering my head and clenching my teeth in anger. My eyes were shut tightly. We were so close, but unless we could figure out a way out of this, we were stuck in an infinite loop of no ink, and we would be finished off sooner or later, either by the two remaining heads or the constantly falling fireballs. The astral pouches would just make the process longer and more painful. If I ever thought I would actually die in Nippon, this was the last way I wanted it to happen.

"Dang it, Silver!" Issun yelled irritably in my ear. "Don't give up! We'll find a way to finish this!"

I whined pathetically and didn't move. That is, until Ammy ran into me full force and pushed us both away from where I was sitting, where a fireball fell moments later. I just stared at the flames that burned only a few feet away from us. My mind felt completely blank, yet filled with confusion. I didn't know what to think or what to do anymore. _Is this what hopelessness feels like?_

Ammy's growl, directed right at me, pulled me out of my thoughts, or lack thereof. "Celia, get it together! We've taken down Orochi before, and we're not going to admit to defeat now! There has to be a way out of this, and it's probably right under our noses and we just don't know it." Her voice was stern, a no-nonsense tone to a level that I never even imagined existed for her.

And then the answer hit me so hard I seriously think I felt some physical pain. _Yumigami, I am such an idiot. How did I not think of this earlier?_

"Inkfinity stone!" I yelled in excitement, then in fear a second later when a fireball came dangerously close to hitting us.

"Fluffy, you're a genius!" Issun exclaimed.

I gave a fake bow. "Thank you, thank you."

Ammy ignored us and used said item, then dispatched of the darkness and fire heads in the blink of an eye. I suddenly felt relief and stupidity coursing through me.

_We're not going to die!_

…_I am such an idiot for thinking we were going to die._

All the heads woke up and roared at us for narrowly avoiding defeat, and we started to run towards them, but we were stopped by Oki.

"Hey! Get out of the way!" Issun yelled irritably.

"Silence!" Oki commanded just as seriously. He held out his sword in front of him. "Kutone! Awaken!" He pointed his weapon at Orochi. "The time has come to glow silver! Grant me the power of the heavens!" He stabbed Kutone at the fire head, but the barrier surrounding the monster refused to be broken. "What the…?" Before anyone could react, Orochi used the same attack he had on Ammy and me, sending him straight into the wall.

"Oki!" We all yelled out at the same time.

He quickly recovered, but he was visibly shaking, and pretty badly, by the looks of it. I felt sorry for him. "I don't understand…" It was the first time I had actually heard his voice waver, I realized. "Why won't Kutone awaken? Why, Kutone? Why?"

All the heads of Orochi set their sights on the distressed Oina warrior, and with a gasp of shock, I realized that the fire head was about to finish him off. I got into a running position and prepared to push him out of the way before-

"Hold it right there, vile serpent!" All eight heads turned around to face the direction of the voice, and even I had to look up at the sound.

"Ammy! Silver! Is that who I think it is?" Issun asked in shock.

_No, Susano just followed us through the spirit gate and he's come to help us out because he's known this entire time that Nagi is just as lazy a warrior as he is. _I decided to keep the comment to myself though, just for the sake of the situation.

Nagi coughed to clear his throat, then pulled out his sword and raised it to the sky. "Behold! Nagi, the greatest warrior who ever lived!" He held his sword out to his side. "And from this day forth, guardian deity of Kamiki Village! Hear me, vile serpent who would do violence upon the weak!" That probably did a number on poor Oki's already badly damaged self-esteem. Nagi sliced his weapon through the air a few times before holding it above his head. "Your time is up! Feel the wrath of my trusty sword!"

He jumped into the air, did a crapton of flips just to prove his epicness, and…

…landed on his head and went unconscious for a few seconds.

Ammy and I stared in disbelief at the warrior. Words could not describe how…like I said, words can't even describe the situation. But the point is, it could probably even be deemed as failtastic. And that is a term normally used for cars that get into the weirdest places, so you can see how…okay, seriously, I should read a dictionary in my spare time or something to try to find the word I'm thinking of, because right now I just can't figure it out.

As soon as he regained consciousness, Nagi gave an awkward cough, still doing a slight headstand. You've gotta give him credit for being able to do that while passed out, and for quite a long time, too. "Shiranui…other wolf that hangs out with Shiranui…" Aww, way to make me feel special. I think I just got a warm fuzzy inside. "I don't know why you are both here, but…Orochi is mine! I shall slay the beast!" He ran around to the side we were on and stood in between us. "The time has come! O great gods of the heavens, sweep away these dark clouds! Bear witness as the beast succumbs to my trusty sword Bokunenjin!"

"Wait…this all sounds familiar…" Issun trailed.

I glanced at him with an unamused expression. "Haven't you been noticing the similarities to the present since back when there was a crowd in front of Nagi's house?"

"Not that!" Issun dismissed. "I'm talking about the legend of Nagi! His sword gained power over evil when the moon shined upon it. At least that's what they say!"

Ammy and I shared a glance, nodded, and howled at the same time, the sound echoing across the entire arena. Nagi ran forwards and pointed his sword to the sky, and Issun used crescent to make the moon appear. The light shined down on the weapon and turned it gold.

"His sword…it's…" Oki didn't finish his sentence, but the shock and jealousy was clear in his tone.

Nagi, meanwhile, was staring at said sword and tilting his head in confusion. "Hm? What devilry is this? My sword…it suddenly blazed gold!"

"Awesome. You can sell it on ebay for a fortune." I couldn't resist muttering under my breath.

"It must be the heavens which aid me!" Nagi decided. "Then I shall wield this divine gift with all my might! Nagi-Style Blade of Truth!" And with that, he lunged at the first head. "Good!" Slash! "Will!" Slash! "Never!" Slash! "Give!" Slash! "In!" Slash! "To!" Slash! "Evil!" Slash! Just like last time, the fire head watched in distress and anger as the rest fell to the ground, decapitated and limp. It charged up one final attack, but no way we were going to let him use it.

"Now, for the ultimate in Nagi-Style martial arts! Celestial Cleaver!" The warrior jumped into the air and sliced the fire head clean in half, and both sides fell to the ground on either side of him. I hummed some random victory music just to try to make the moment cooler, but it really didn't do much. Although Lika randomly falling from the sky and onto my back was a definite plus. She looked confused, but I figured we'd be able to explain everything later.

_The moment that the legend of Nagi was fulfilled...it was the most beautiful sight one could imagine. Bathed in moonlight, Magi's sword twinkled, reflecting golden light. With Orochi's body cleaved, the beast was sealed for 100 years. The sword was dubbed Tsukuyomi and enshrined in the Moon Cave. Little Lika, the Oina girl who had been tainted by Orochi's dark power, had her curse lifted and returned to normal. However, one man, Oki, did not show such signs of recovery. Orochi's power had interfered with his most desperate attack. Despite the grave danger, Kutone did not exhibit the silver glow. Oki's heart burned at the thought of what Nagi's sword had wrought. Thoroughly humiliated and boiling with rage, he sulked away into the darkness, making sure that no one lay eyes upon him. Except Celia. Fangirl eyes see all._

"Heh heh heh heh…aha ha ha ha ha ha!" Nagi burst out laughing. "I have slain the beast! I, Nagi, have defeated the dreaded Orochi!"

"We know, we know. Now will you stop repeating yourself?" Issun requested in exasperation.

"I commend your bravery, Shiranui…and other wolf!" So many warm fuzzies in one day, it made me feel like I was going to explode with them. "But it was I who felled the foul beast! Aha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Yeah, whatever. Furball and Fluffy here did all the work!"

"Heck yes we did." I sat down and yawned. "And we even got past a, _we're dead meat, can we give up now?_ moment. I think that counts more than just showing up and going on a mad cutting spree."

"Anyway…" Issun stopped bouncing for a second. "Where did Oki go? He left without a word."

"He snuck out the way Nagi came." I answered simply.

I had a feeling I was being stared at with wide poncle eyes. "How'd you know that?"

"Fangirl eyes see all, Issun. Fangirl eyes see all."

"Oookay…well, at least we saved Lika." The ground started shaking once again, and a huge purple portal appeared out of absolutely nowhere, hovering above the sky ominously. "I've got a bad feeling about this…what's that Orochi up to now? I thought he was dead!" Issun jumped to the ground and a few feet in front of us. "Hey, Pops! You'd better get over here! Quick!"

A boulder formed where the portal was, and flew towards the ground, straight towards Nagi.

"Pops!" "Nagi!" "Lazy-butt warrior!"

We were all deathly silent as the boulder hit the ground. After a few seconds, a bright white light started to glow from under the boulder, and two figures could be seen under the big rock. One was an unharmed Nagi. The other was a white wolf, the source of light.

"Mom!" A voice cried out in distress, and another figure joined them. It was a golden color, and they leaned up against the white wolf, trying to help hold up the boulder.

_Shamiterasu, _I realized, staring in awe at my friend, who was alive and standing in front of me, for the moment, at least.

"Sh-Shiranui…?" Nagi gasped. I guessed he couldn't see Shami, who was standing on the other side of her mother.

"Ammy?" Issun sounded just as surprised.

Stunned doesn't even begin to describe how Nagi looked at that moment. "You…you saved my life?"

An orange glow bounced out from under the boulder. "Hey, you guys! This battle is far from over. Now get outta here while you still have the chance!"

"Is that…? Old man Ishaku?" Issun exclaimed.

I saw Shiranui turn and say something to her daughter. Shami looked like she wanted to protest, but she nodded and ran out from under the boulder and out of sight. The white wolf then used all her strength to push the boulder over, but she was clearly exhausted by the effort. Nagi reached out to touch her fur, but a falling boulder stopped him. He looked around in fear as more and more rocks fell, quickly dotting the area. He picked up Shiranui in his arms and ran for the exit as quickly as he could. Ammy ran forward and grabbed Issun in her mouth, jumping back and barely dodging a boulder. Without a second thought, I put Lika on my back again and we made our getaway after Nagi, saying goodbye to the past, some of us for a while, and some of us for the last time.

* * *

><p>OACA sequel references FTW- *shot*<p>

The word count for this chapter is also over nine thousa- *shot dead*


	32. To Kill a Mechanical Owl

Yes, I am aware this chapter is waaaaaay past due.

Here, it's 10.5k words. PLEASE FORGIVE MEEEEEE! *runs away crying*

Chapter 29- To Kill a Mechanical Owl

As we all stood outside the spirit gate, shivering against the cold wind and snow that attacked us more ferociously than it had when we first left the place, we were all silent for a while.

Issun, of course, was the first to speak. "You know those wolves who helped Nagi…they were Shiranui and Shamiterasu. Or in other words, Ammy, that was you 100 years ago. That was how you met your end after your venture with gramps. Yu battled and slew the dreaded Orochi, only to die yourself."

"Your point?" I raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, don't make her depressed or anything, Issun."

Lika finally talked for the first time. "Issun? Is that you?"

"Hm? Lika! It's been ages!"

"Technically, yes, the last time we saw her was 100 years ago…" I just had to point it out.

"Too bad we had to meet like this. What made you go through the Spirit Gate anyway?"

"Spirit Gate? What's that?" The young girl questioned. "All I remember is two owls appearing in a dream. They invited me to come play with them in the forest. Next thing I knew, I woke up there. Thank goodness you and your doggies came to save me!"

"I love how no one in this tribe seems to acknowledge us as people." I commented dryly.

Issun just ignored me. It made all the warm fuzzies I got from Nagi's comments go away. "You had a dream about two owls? Aren't the guardian gods of Kamui owls? Why would the owls lead you here?"

"Umm…Issun…" Ammy finally spoke up, staring up at the sky in concern. I followed her gaze and instantly gasped when my gaze settled on the sun, (Even though technically speaking it should've been doing a number on my eyesight, I figured Nippon logic would protect me.) which seemed to be missing a piece.

"Look, you two! The sun! It's starting to wane!" Issun exclaimed. He _did_ realize he was the last person to look up at the sky, right? "The Day of Darkness is about to begin!"

"This is just getting worse and worse by the minute." I decided, glancing up at the sky wearily.

"This day-long solar eclipse only happens once every 100 years!"

"Day of Darkness? What's that?" Lika asked us with an innocence only a child could possess.

I sighed and glanced up at her. "Bad stuff, Lika. Very bad stuff."

"It looks like something's taking a big bite outta the sun." Issun observed, then his voice suddenly lowered in something close to terror. "Ammy, you're the sun god…what's gonna happen to you if the sun disappears?"

"Oh dear Shiranui…" I muttered. I really didn't like the feeling of dread growing in my somach.

"Sun god? What's that?"

"That would be a god of the sun, sweetie." I answered calmly, although I felt anything but. I had to stop myself from giving Ammy a helpless look. This was probably scaring her more than it was me.

"Lika!" Issun suddenly shouted. "You can recite that Volcanic Incantation, can't you? It's supposed to make that frozen mountain Ezofuji erupt, right? Well, you better do it, 'cause Kamui's gonna freeze if you don't!"

"Volcanic Incantation? What's that?"

I sighed and lowered my head. "It's official. The Oina are goners."

"You mean that prayer we offer to the mountain by the lake?" Lika asked us, and I took back what I said. Maybe they actually had a chance. Maybe. "Yeah! I can mimic that prayer of old man Kemu perfectly!" Probably. "He's even told me that I do it really well!" Most likely.

"I know, I know!" Issun said dismissively. "That's why we need your help back in the village! Let's go, you two. Back to Wep'keer as fast as you can!"

(Time Skip: Over in Wep'keer…)

Ammy and I both skidded to a halt at the origin mirror, staying close to each other for warmth. Another bad blizzard had started up again and the visibility was close to zero. It was a miracle we made it out of Yoshpet.

"Whoa! Now that's one nasty blizzard!" Issun exclaimed.

I shook my fur. "And I thought it couldn't get any worse while we were back in the forest. I think Wep'keer is defying all logic." _Oh, wait,_ I realized. _Nippon logic. Right._

"It's blowing in from the rear of the village." He noted.

"That doesn't matter." Ammy dismissed, narrowing her eyes at the snow that pelted us. "We need to get Lika to the altar as soon as possible."

I nodded. "We're close to the lake. Let's go!"

(Time Skip: And I'm back to being abused. Joy.)

As soon as we got to the altar, we realized we couldn't let Lika pray alone in the middle of the blizzard, so we decided to keep going to meet up with Tuskle. To our surprise, it seemed like the entire Oina tribe was up there as well.

"Huh? What's everyone doin' here?" Issun questioned. He didn't receive an answer, so he raised his voice to be heard over the blizzard. "Hey! I brought Lika, everyone! So what's up with this nasty blizzard?"

"It's…" Kai trailed.

"It's the Day of Darkness." Tuskle told us grimly, raising her head to look at the sun in the sky. "This day comes once every hundred years. Now it's upon us again. That's why the monsters are making the blizzard even fiercer. And Oki…how could he be so irresponsible at a time like this?"

"Wait, what?" I stared at her in confusion. "What'd he do?"

She sighed. "He destroyed the gate here on his way to the Wawku Shrine!"

"What?" We all gasped in unison.

"I tried to stop him, but he was waving Kutone about, and he was through the gate before I could do a thing. Now Kamui could freeze over whether the eclipse comes or not!"

"Oki suddenly disappeared after we defeated Orochi…" Issun trailed, his tone uncertain and surprised. "Never thought he'd come here and do something like this, though. I bet he just wants to steal all the glory for himself!"

Kai suddenly interrupted him. "No! Oki's not like that!" I gave a small growl in agreement. "I understand why he took the divine Kutone sword. He was trying to do what was right for the village. When the two demons got violent at the shrine on Ezofuji, it was Oki who came to Kemu's rescue!"

"Huh? I thought Samickle was the one who saved old man Kemu!" Issun replied. It sounded like he was already having brain pain.

"Oki acted as bait so that Kemu and Samickle could escape." Kai explained everything to us. "They survived because Oki acted as their shield and fought for them! Oki is the strongest among us, but even so, he was no match for them. He was lucky to come home alive."

"Wow! That's quite a feat surviving a battle against two demons!" Issun sounded impressed.

I raised an eyebrow. "You realize we've taken down a lot more than that, right?"

Kai ignored me and continued. "But he was angry that he couldn't defeat the demons, so he took the sword and left the village to fight again. I know it's unforgivable that he stole the sword like that. But he was just trying to do the right thing. All he cares about is doing what's best for the village!"

Issun stayed silent.

"It won't be long before the eclipse makes the sun disappear." Tuskle interrupted…if it's possible to interrupt when nobody is even talking. "If the Volcanic Incantation doesn't start Ezofuji erupting, Kamui will get colder until it freezes over completely." She turned to the little girl who was standing next to me. "Please, Lika! We're relying on you to make this work!"

I glanced over at the Oina child, who looked confused for a second before speaking slowly. "Oki always told me what kind of Oina he wanted me to become. He told me to be a good Oina and use my power to help everyone. Do you think it'd help everyone if I prayed like I always do? Who cares about this stupid blizzard! I'm gonna pray for our mountain to come back to life!" She said firmly, determinedly. It gave me back my warm fuzzies.

"That's my girl!" I had a feeling Tuskle was smiling under her mask. "Let's go, my little warrior! If you don't start the incantation soon, it'll be too late!" And then they both ran off down the mountain.

"There was another reason…" Kai said quietly. We all turned to look at her. "Another reason why Oki went off with Kutone. _The wall of ice shall shatter and open the way to the heavens when Kutone glows silver._" Yeah, we hadn't heard that fifty times that day. "Legend has it that the sword has the power to ward off evil. That's why Oki left the village with it. He was going to use the sacred sword to fight the monsters alone! He always seems to be doing reckless things, but he'd never do anything that would hurt someone else. He's just so absorbed that he's lost sight of himself." She sighed. "Oh, I hope he comes home safe!"

I turned around when I heard Samickle, top warrior of the Oina tribe, chief of Wep'keer, grow. "The cold air from the mountains will freeze our people to death unless I can shut this gate!" He mumbled as he tried to push the door closed. It wasn't working at all. Ammy and I decided to just go through the gate already, but like always, we were sidetracked by our little envoy.

"Are we really gonna go through there, you two?" He asked nervously. "The ruins of the Wawku Shrine lie within Ezofuji. It's a strange place discovered by the people of Wep'keer long ago. At the peak lies an altar with the statues of the twin demons. And the trail up there is littered with odd contraptions. The twin demons are known as Lechku and Nechku. Their altar statues came to life and terrorized this land long ago. They were defeated and imprisoned by a legendary Oina hero, but it seems they've broken free and are once again wreaking havoc. This can't just be a coincidence. I mean, remember what that no-good Ninetails said? You know, something about Yami, ruler of the Land of Darkness."

"Don't forget about the Kagami person, too." I reminded.

"I don't know exactly who these Yami and Kagami characters are, but all sorts of strange things started happening once Orochi returned. Who knows if this mountain shrine has anything to do with all that, but I think we need to be extra careful this time!"

"When aren't we careful?" I raised an eyebrow.

I could feel Issun staring at me. "You realize you dubbed yourself 'the reckless one,' right?"

"…that's besides the point."

Ammy just rolled her eyes and ran into the dungeon, forcing me to follow after.

(Time Skip: Kinda inside Wawku Shrine but not really… okay, on a long patch of ice right before the real part of the place.)

"Wait a sec, you two." Issun stopped us. "See those cannons over there?" I looked over at the other side of the room and sort of noticed two statue-looking things pointed straight at us. "I'm not so sure they're here to greet us. Let's take it slow and easy…"

_Slow and easy…?_ I suddenly smirked as I realized what it meant. I waved my tail in two horizontal lines just as two purple balls of flame started to come straight towards us. Ammy powerslashed one and Issun got rid of the other, and we all had a small victory celebration before running across the long path of ice. Where the canons used to be, there were two buried chests that gave us a stay bead and ruby tassels. And with that, we went into the real part of the dungeon.

(Time Skip: In 'the real part of the dungeon'…)

"This is pretty big." Ammy noted. Issun chuckled. I ate him for a good minute before spitting him out.

The first thing we did was go to the right, seeing as that was really the only direction we could go in. (The gate in front of us was blocked off by a lockjaw. As per usual.) The platform bridges we had to cross were made of _very_ thin ice. Meaning, we had to run or else risk falling down an endless pit of doom. The latter nearly happened to us, so the lesson was pretty much pounded into our head after that. We had a short break with a normal platform, although we had to stay near the edge of it, thanks to a huge stalagmite of ice right in the middle of our resting place. After the shock had gone away, we raced across another three ice platforms, easily getting across that time.

"Ice spikes, skulls, and now demon scrolls," I commented dully as we calmly walked by a floating blue piece of paper. "This place has it all."

"Including huge chunks of ice blocking the way!" Issun added.

Ammy swished her tail, causing the flame from one of the torches near the door in front of us to spring onto the obstacle our poncle mentioned, quickly turning it to nothing more than a puddle of water. "We already know how to deal with these from the Moon Cave."

"I never actually went with you two into there." I pointed out.

"Yeah, you just got caught." Issun said, sounding strangely optimistic about the fact. Two seconds later I was chasing him around the area.

"Get back here and lemme give you another slobber bath!" I growled.

Issun kept bouncing just out of my reach. "You'll never catch me alive, Fluffy!"

I stopped, sat down, and tilted my head. "Déjà vu much?"

Issun probably figured I was done with the chase and jumped onto my head. "I think the same thing happened back in Kamiki."

"Oh yeah," I paused. "It already feels like a long time ago.

"Come on, you two. We still have a tribe to save." Ammy pointed out, standing in the doorway patiently.

I jumped to my feet. "Right. Let's go." I ran to catch up with my friend, who had already gone into the next room. I kept to the left of the room, making sure not to touch the fallen icicles, (Which were oversized, by the way.) and smirked when we entered the next room, glancing up at the poncle on my head. "Hey, Issun. Light change~"

"Find your happy place, Issun. Find your happy place." I heard him whimpering. I barely kept myself from bursting out into laughter.

"So, what's this thing for?" I asked Ammy as I gestured with my head to the (Again, oversized) ball of ice that sat to the left of me. She pointed with her tail to the contraption in the middle of the room, suspended over another pit of death by who-knows-what, then jumped onto the circular platform that was raised pretty high up in the air, dropped a sprout she was holding in her mouth, and bloomed said sprout, causing it to grow into a huge tree (With snow on its leaves, somehow.) and the platform to lower slightly.

"What is it? Some sorta weight game?" Issun questioned. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, I don't weigh a ton."

"Really?" I gasped in mock surprise. "You don't say!"

"Quit it with the sarcasm, Silver." He responded irritably.

I gave a soft growl and muttered under my breath, "If I had a nickel for every time you've said that to me…"

"Well, looks like Ammy already finished off the puzzle, so why don't you use galestorm to push that ball of ice to the other side of the room?" Issun suggested.

"Why don't you?" I shot back. Issun just huffed and jumped onto Ammy's head. (She had already made her way over to us.)

"Don't pick a fight for no reason," She told me under her breath. It was a miracle Issun couldn't hear her. "You never know what you might gain or lose, for better or for worse." I stared at my friend. After a moment or two, she put her attention back on the task at hand, making a spiral shape with her tail and pushing the ice across the newly-made bridge. I sighed and followed unenthusiastically. I hate words of wisdom.

While Ammy and Issun went to go get the lockjaw key we discovered, I went ahead to the end of the path and grabbed us a vengeance slip from a treasure chest. When I came back, my friends were nowhere to be found, so I ran ahead to catch up.

(Time Skip: At the lockjaw… I'm being over-used once again… not like I'm not used to it by now.)

"Die, foul beast!"

"Susano impression?"

"Yup."

"Nice."

"Thank you."

We progressed ahead, quickly coming to a huge pool full of empty. (Three cheers for oxymorons.) Of course, with the biggest chunk of ice we'd ever set eyes on sitting there in the nothing and torches on every side of the room, we had to do something about that. And there always needs to be a conveniently placed power spring in the middle of the spring, because it's Nippon, and there always needs to be a perfect setup to let you do all the heroic crap you please. (Hmm. I think I discovered Oki's ulterior motive. Being a hero is easier than it probably should be in Nippon.) Obviously, we used the power spring to get to a higher level of the dungeon. Once it stopped, we jumped off, quickly ran across to ice platforms, and started to make our way across the pathway we were on, and after a wall climbing session made a whopping 2% more difficult thanks to some more ice spikes, we were done with the dungeon!

Yeah, right. We wish. It would've been nice to go through a dungeon that was shorter than Hana Valley.

"Cannons at five o' clock!" Issun warned.

I glanced over at the obstacle nearest to us. "You _do_ realize that looks more like 10 o' clock, right?"

"How should I even know what that means?" He defended. "I just picked that saying up from you."

"Yeah, well, don't use idioms if you don't even know what they mean." I retorted.

"What's an idiom?"

"Your face."

"Your mom."

"Cut it out, you two." Ammy snapped, getting both of us to shut up. "We'll never get out of here at this rate. Celia, you and I will take turns using veil of mist. Issun, you powerslash anything that's launched at us. All right?"

"Fine." We both agreed.

Even though two out of three of us were reluctant, the setup ended up working pretty well. We managed to get through the entire stretch without a single injury, amazingly enough, and the small moment of teamwork put another small truce in place. Sure, it'd be shredded to pieces, burned, peed on to put out the fire, burned again, tossed off a cliff, and have its grave danced on by the ghosts of the partying imps back in Hana Valley eventually, at least it existed for some time. And that's the true miracle of it all. Anyways, we got past that boatload of fun with the power of teamwork, went through a golden gate probably meant only to intimidate us, and went into the door right in front of us, coming into a room with-

"Well, that looks…fun…" I said hesitantly, glancing in fear at the wheels in front of us that were spinning so quickly even looking at them was painful. (And dizzying.)

"Well, we seem to be using this a lot," Ammy made two horizontal lines and time slowed to a crawl, causing the wheels to spin at a slower, more wolf-friendly speed, making them ideal platforms to use to cross the gap in the room. We did exactly that and jumped across them as quickly as we could, making it to the other side without a scratch. There may have been quite a few obstacles in that shrine, but they had pretty simple ways to get past them.

"Hey, look! I think there's a treasure chest up there!" Issun said, pointing with Denkomaru to a shelf-looking thing above the wheels, which were spinning at a normal pace again. (If you consider those speeds normal.)

Ammy and I exchanged a glance. I gave her an innocent smile and she rolled her eyes, then double jumped onto the shelf. A couple seconds and a powerslash later, she fell back down.

"Kutani pottery." She reported.

I smiled. "All right."

"Now let's go, you two! We haven't got all day!" Issun commanded.

"_Now_ you're suddenly siding with Ammy on the whole 'we need to hurry up' thing?" It was my turn to roll my eyes as we went through the door and went back outside into the cold blizzard. Of course, the first thing we did was melt the ice around a chest to get some sapphire tassels, because treasure is high on our priority list, in case you haven't figured out by now. We then skirted a demon scroll with was floating over a patch of ice and dug up and bloomed a clover that gave us thirty praise before coming to a place with a bunch of platform spiders. On fire. And Nippon logic strikes once again!

"Whoa, you two!" Issun said. "Those aren't your typical platform spiders. They're flame spiders! I'd be careful if I were you. Don't go tryin' to hop on one of their backs!"

I waited a few seconds to make sure he was done talking before saying, "Wow. Something concerning fire and you _didn't_ use the word 'crispy critter' at least once? I'm proud of you, Issun."

"Thank you, Fluffy." I shook my head and smiled before we made our way through the tangled web of spiders. (So I'm not a master of bad puns. Sue me.) Making our way past an amazing, not one, but _two_ flame spiders was our real first difficult task in the dungeon. And admittedly, we could've used veil of mist to make the ordeal a whole lot easier on our part… aaanyways… after being burned, frozen, and possibly sustaining brain damage from heads being smashed against rocks, we made it past that small stretch with quite a few injuries, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with some magical handy-dandy holy bones. After we were healed and rested up, we jumped down to the next part of the area and right into a battle. No one was surprised. I blame Oni Island.

"Oh, look. The new Frank. Joy." I said sarcastically, getting into a battle position.

Ammy was doing the same. "Issun, use veil of mist whenever you can. Celia, you cover him if he runs out of ink. Attack whenever its attention isn't on you. Wear it down. I'll take care of all the other brush techniques. Split up!" She ordered, then ran off to the right. I went to the left after I felt Issun leap onto my head. I attacked it two times with my glaive while its attention was on my friend, but I wasn't prepared for it to turn around and spew fire at me. I barely jumped away in time, and I felt a tiny bit of my fur smoldering, but I wasn't hurt, so I jumped back into the game as soon as I could and ran under it.

"Go, Silver!" Issun cheered as he used veil of mist again. "Just keep hittin' it!" I kept attacking until the Frank started to shake.

"Get out of there, you two!" Ammy yelled. I didn't need to be told twice. I quickly retreated to the edge of the battle barrier, baring my fangs at the now invincible enemy. Of course, since I did most of the damage to it, its sights were right on _moi._ I ran around the barrier, Issun abusing poor veil of mist, and right when I thought, _this is easier than I expected,_ it torpedoed towards me. I jumped out of the way pretty early, thanks to all the pretty mist in the air, and watched as the monster slammed its head into the barrier. That had to hurt. The next time it attacked though, Issun forgot to do his job, and when the Frank charged at me, I freaked out and spat a few cuss words as I double jumped over it, surprisingly not taking any damage. It finally went back to its normal form, and Ammy took the chance to run under it like I had before, and it only took a few more hits to finish it off.

I grinned broadly once the barrier went down. "Woo hoo!" I cheered. "Nothing can beat our trio!" My friends both shared my optimism. Even though we had taken down monsters before, I just felt full of energy for some reason. I was in hyper mode. Yes, we argued a lot more than what might be considered humanly possible. But when we worked together, we really could get stuff done quickly.

"Hey, Ammy, Silver, look!" Issun directed our attention to the machine in front of us we somehow hadn't noticed until then. "Check out this big contraption! It's got a nasty blizzard blowing right out of it!"

"Well, now we know where it's been coming from this whole time." Ammy commented.

The poncle on my head changed from happy to angry in the span of a millisecond. "Can you believe those no-good demons?"

"Actually, yes, I can." I replied.

Issun just ignored my comment. Let me see a show of hands. Who saw that coming? "They're trying to turn Kamui into a giant ice cube with this thing! We gotta stop in now, you two!"

"Yes, that _would_ be the ideal thing to do in this situation." I pointed out with a flat tone.

"Your techniques should be up to the task! I mean, this contraption doesn't look all that complicated!"

I glanced up at the machine again. Think a box-like thing with three spinning wheels on the bottom half, a weird object in a compartment blocked off by a nearly transparent barrier in the top half, and a speaker from a record player blowing out a constant stream of snow and ice hanging out on the top of the entire thing to top it off. Now imagine it as big as a two or three story building. That's what I was looking at.

"…You sure about that, bug boy?"

"Look, there's a crack over there." Ammy said, then powerslashed said crack, making a huge hole in the cliffside. "We'll probably find a hint in there."

Because, like I said, everything is extremely convenient for us heroes in Nippon.

(Time Skip: Seriously, do I have to be used right here? Really? Ugh… Inside the cave…)

"Hm? Hey, check out this huge pattern carved on the floor!" Issun said with an excited tone. A second later, he screamed when we were nearly hit by a flaming fruit, which Ammy powerslashed away just in time, then bloomed a stunned possessed tree.

"Next time, pay attention to the dangerous things in the room before a helpful hint, genius." I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry…" He muttered, then used galestorm to blow away two piles of leaves on the ground, which revealed the entire clue. "Whoa…this looks like a really old pictograph or something. I know it takes loads of skill to convey meaning through art…but this pictograph takes that to a completely new level!"

I backed up to take a better look at the picture. "Looks like the machine outside."

"Up, right, left." Ammy observed from the picture. She turned around. "Let's go."

(Time Skip: Back outside the cave… really, I'm not necessary right now.)

"Well, there's the unfrozen, _glowing_ lever." I said simply. "So Ammy, you want to go first, or me?"

"What about me?" Issun whined.

I yawned and sat down. "You're officially in charge of veil of mist."

"Woo hoo."

"I'm glad to see your display of enthusiasm."

"I'm glad to display my enthusiasm."

Ammy interrupted our conversation of sarcasm, which was a good thing for Issun. It saved him what most likely would've been an embarrassing loss. "You can go first, Celia."

I nodded. "All right." Issun used the official brush technique he was in charge of and I powerslashed the lever when the first wheel was pointing up. Ammy powerslashed when the second wheel was pointing right, I did the same when the third one was pointing left, and then they all started glowing purple. Pretty. The transparent barrier disappeared, the blizzard stopped completely, making the atmosphere completely calm, and then the object inside the machine left its prison, began to glow, and shot off into the sky.

"Look!" Issun exclaimed as the clouds blew away and the stars started shining. "I think it's here! That 13th and final brush technique you lost, Ammy! We finally found it!"

I felt like I was in shock, but at the same time I was nearly bursting with excitement. Except for when we got Thunderstorm, the thought never occurred to me that we'd really get the last brush technique, and even when we got one back on Oni Island, that moment was more depressing than anything. I made two stars for the back legs, Issun made one for the front, and Ammy made the stars for the head and back, and the constellation was complete, causing a raging bull to appear. It charged down at us and swung its head when it got close, but Ammy and I both swiftly leapt out of the way, spinning around on our heels and sitting down next to each other when we figured everything was safe.

"Ah… Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all… and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…" I lifted my chin up a little and smirked. "In your absence, I took shelter here, only to become trapped. Beings of evil defile the world with impurity and darkness. Like a mighty snow flurry, I, Itegami, god of ice, have returned! I grant you both the ability to freeze your foes to absolute zero. I am the last of the 13 brush gods you sought. You two now possess the power to put an end to evil forever!"

"The 13th and final brush god is Itegami, the god of ice." Issun informed us. Rather redundantly, I might add. (In case you didn't notice already, that is.) "You know what this means, you two! You've now recovered all the brush techniques you lost, Ammy! Hm? Whoa, check out Itegami!"

The bull in front of us took the object around its neck and blew it like a horn. All the brush gods we'd seen before appeared before my eyes, and in a flash of golden light, two new weapons appeared and took their place above our backs. Ammy's was a red disk that looked like the sun in Nippon with blue and orange flames coming out of the sides and flowing out behind the disk. I turned my head to get a glance at my weapon. It was a light blue disk with purple swirls near the edges, circling around the marking in the middle, which looked like the sun, as well. Four sharp crystals sprouted from the disk on all sides, glowing orange, red, and yellow, like the crystals themselves contained fire inside of them.

"Well, I guess that's it." Issun said once we were back at the Wakwu Shrine. "We've found the long-awaited 13th and final technique! Itegami's blizzard power can freeze any monster to the bone! A fitting power to top off the rest. Like _ici_ng on a cake!"

I rolled my eyes. "Haha."

"Hey, check out that flame spider over there. It'll make a perfect first victim." I had a feeling Issun was grinning evilly. "Place your brush on a mass of ice to harness its power, and then draw a line to the flame spider. Do that, and the power of ice should rush into your brush! Go ahead! Give that bone-chilling brush technique a try!"

"You can go first." Ammy told me.

I turned and stared at her. "Really?" She nodded, and I turned my attention back to the spider, smirking as I swished my tail from the icicle to the flame spider and freezing it. A stream of ice jumped to the platform spider, freezing it solid and keeping it from moving.

"Ha ha! That no-good flame spider's frozen solid! So that's the power of blizzard, the final brush technique…" He paused, and the atmosphere seemed to change. It got a lot more awkward, to say the least."At last…I've seen all 13 brush techniques! The 13 Celestial Brush Techniques! The power of the gods! …Well, the celebration are just gonna have to wait. The first order of business is getting' outta here alive. I mean, what use will all the techniques be if I'm dead?"

"Such selfless thoughts." I was barely holding back a laugh, and it was apparent in my tone.

Issun chucked a bit before speaking again. "Seriously though, don't go doing anything stupid and getting us all killed!"

"Aww, it's all right. We have enough astral pouches to go arou- WAIT A SECOND. WE HAVE ENOUGH PRAISE TO UPGRADE OUR SOLAR ENERGY! YES!" I cheered as said attribute was upgraded. Ammy shook her head and froze the flame spider again just for safety before we hopped on its back and used it to go back where we came from. Oh, and Ammy had her turn to try out our new brush technique on the flame spiders while getting a stray bead in the process, so that was also a plus.

(Time Skip: Right after the room with the spiny wheels of doom…)

"Battle time, you two!" Issun announced as a barrier went up. "Ready to try out your new weapons?"

"I was born ready!" I smirked as the poltergeist appeared. Our weapons were so strong that only two hits stunned the monster and it died in about five. And we had no gold dust to power them up at the moment. If I wasn't in wolf form, and if I wasn't afraid of being hurt by the fire crystals, I probably would've hugged my new reflector.

"Dang, you two!" Issun definitely sounded impressed. "That monster didn't even stand a chance!"

Ammy and I exchanged a glance, then we both pretended to bow. "Thank you, thank you." We chorused, and all three of us burst into laughter. At this point, we were unstoppable.

Issun froze the next flame spider we came across, which allowed us to jump onto a bridge with _another_ flame spider climbing up and down. Ammy offered to go and get the treasure that the spider could be used as a platform to get to while I went ahead and waited at a catwalk statue. (Which I had to unfreeze and use a konahana blossom to get to.) Once the trio was reassembled, we climbed up the wall and used even more spiders to get up to an outrageously high platform with a door at the end. Once we went through said door, we were in a room with a never-ending pit, the only thing that could be used as platforms being a bunch of very quickly spinning wheels. Of course. As had been officially decided about ten or twenty minutes prior, Issun used veil of mist, Ammy and I jumped safely across, everyone was happy. We also found the dungeon map. As if anyone ever uses those things in the first place. We also discovered that our new weapons could help us use fire without any torches and without having to waste three inkpots on fireburst, which was a nice little discovery.

The next room had three platform wheels. The first two were spinning slowly enough that we made it across no sweat, although the third one was just a bit faster. And on fire. Needless to say, jumping on it had to be saved until Ammy used blizzard on it and finally got the timing right, which allowed us to progress forward. We completely ignored the demon scroll in front of us, and in the room after that, Issun had a short mental breakdown brought to you by light changes. After he got over it, he went into informative mode.

"Whoa, whoa!" He exclaimed. "Why do you two always have to be so reckless?"

I just stared at him. Or I would've if he wasn't on my head. "Um, Issun, what are you talking about? We just walked into the room. We weren't planning on jumping in that death pit."

"I mean, open your eyes, Furball and Fluffy! There's a big ol' hole there! You'd better be more careful."

"I SAID WE WEREN'T THINKING ABOUT JUMPING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR LISTENING EARS."

"I'm too young and handsome to di-" He paused. "Oh, wait. You weren't planning to leap?"

I head/walled.

"Hmm… oh, hey! Look!"

_Oh, dear Shiranui. He's gone into Navi mode. And I thought the day couldn't possibly get any worse. What next?_ I thought to myself.

"The pit's got all that sparkly stuff in there!"

_Okay, life, that wasn't meant to be a challenge. Please, whatever happens, just don't let Waka jump out of that pit right now._

Ammy apparently understood what Issun meant, unlike me, and used an icicle on the other side of the pit to make circular platforms of ice appear in the air.

_Thank you, life._

We used the ice platforms to get the other side and ran up the path, using blizzard to get across more gaps, blooming possessed trees when we passed them, accidentally using sunrise when we tried to bloom the first tree, blooming a clover and accidentally using blizzard while trying to do so, getting injured by running into icicles, and, in short, just having one heck of a fail-tastic time.

My only comments about the next room: Fire. Fire everywhere. Canons are no fun. Light changes and hyperventilating Issun are both awesome.

My only comments about the room after that: Dear Demon scroll, you'll never catch us while we have the peace bell. Please quit trying. Sincerely, Celia.

My only comments about the room after _that_: You know what the worst combo ever is? Ice platforms+falling icicles on the only resting place+random rocks placed in the most horrible spots on ice platforms+two-hit-to-kill canon. It really, truly is.

"A golden gate right in front of an origin mirror?" I questioned while Ammy and I unfroze a couple of chests and earned an inkfinity stone and medium holy bone. "Whoever built this place has some issues."

And with that, we went into the next room. (Which, if you couldn't figure by the two precautions right before, was a boss fight just waiting for us.)

As soon as we ran into the arena, a few ice spikes flew straight at us. We both backflipped out of the way, (I don't remember when or where the heck I learned that. I figured it was instinctual, like back when I saved Issun from the Spider Queen in the Tsuta Ruins. Sure, I had seen Ammy do it before as a model, but still.)

Speaking of Issun, the poncle just chuckled at the attempt. "Look who's here." He said calmly, referring to the silver mechanical owl flying in the middle of the arena. "This guy doesn't waste any time. I like his style!" The owl turned its head around backwards to stare at us, which I found unnerving, but I just kept the fierce, undaunted look on my face. I couldn't show weakness. Machine or not, I didn't want to find out if it could sense fear. "This must be the silver demon, Nechku. He's one of the twin demons that turned Kamui into an icy waste! What luck finding him alone! Sorry, fella! I know you just recently woke from a long slumber, but you're gonna have to go back to being a statue again!" In response, Nechku just put his head back where it belonged and started flying in a different direction. "Hey, where's that birdbrain going?" A white and golden light began to shine on the other side of the arena to answer our question.

"Huh?" We all gasped simultaneously. "Look! Over there!" Issun yelled.

There, on the other side of the arena, stood the sun goddess Shiranui and her daughter, Shamiterasu.

"Isn't that you…from 100 years ago, Ammy?" Our poncle seemed to be in shock.

"And Shami." I added softly, staring at the two wolves in shock and awe.

"I don't get it. What're those two doing here?"

Lechku raised his cane and tried using the same attack on the newcomers the one he had used on us, but once the icicles were only a few inches away from the wolves, they seemed to slow down and a bunch of powerslashes happened at once, sending the icicles straight back to the monster that made them. Shamiterasu seemed to smirk and took a step closer to her mother.

"Whoa!" Issun breathed.

Shiranui threw her head back and howled. A second later Shamiterasu did the same. Ammy and I exchanged glances, then joined in as well. It was the most awesome thing I'd ever heard. And with that, we all jumped into battle together against the demon owl.

Ammy and I instinctively ran in opposite directions, her to the right and me to the left, and we were both backed up by another wolf.

"Hey." Shamiterasu said with a smile as she jumped to my side.

Despite the initial awkwardness that I felt due to the fact that to her, we didn't know each other, and the small fact that we were in a battle, against a boss at that, I grinned back. "Hey."

We didn't have time for small talk though, due to Lechku taking off his hat and launching flaming fruits out of it and straight at us. We all powerslashed the projectiles at the same moment, and something about it just felt _so freaking cool_. The monster was quickly stunned and the two wolves from the past ran in and spammed him with attacks until he dropped out of the air and fell to the ground, leaving him open for me and Ammy to do some damage with our weapons. The next attack Nechku used was the icicle trick, but Ammy and I powerslashed them while the other two used galestorm, which did heck of a lot more than ours ever had. The owl then lunged at me and Shami, who were the two closest to him, attempting to grab us in his talons. We easily dodged, and the golden wolf even counterattacked, getting a few hits in. Shiranui made a cherry bomb, which was much bigger than a normal one and silver colored as well, as Ammy and I powerslashed away all the flaming fruit that we could. Shamiterasu made a slightly smaller and golden-colored bomb right next to the one her mom had made, causing both to explode and Nechku to be stunned once more. We all sat back and watched as Shiranui finished off the mechanical monster with a flurry of attacks so fast I couldn't even register what was going on. We all stood, side by side, as he fell to the ground, totally spazzing out like a fish out of water. It was actually a pretty comical sight. I shared a victorious glance with Shami, who was standing right next to me.

"Wow!" To say Issun sounded amazed would be an understatement. "You guys really did a number on birdbrain there! Quick, Ammy! Before your old self steals all the glory! Finish that demon off!" He called over to our friend. Ammy ran forward and prepared to do so and I followed her, but before we got far, a part of the arena wall exploded into a cloud of dust and a golden robotic owl emerged. "What the…? That's…the golden demon, Lechku! And look! Isn't that-"

"Oki!" Ammy and I yelled out at the same time, staring at the Oina warrior hanging onto Lechku's face and stabbing it every few seconds. He was flung off the demon's face and onto the ground next to us, but he quickly jumped back up and pointed Kutone at the owl.

"At last…" And despite the imminent danger, my heart sped up from fangirl causes. Don't judge me. "At last I have you cornered! I'm going to finish you off this time. Kutone shall blaze silver once more!"

Lechku stopped having his little spaz attack on the other side of the arena and began to fly next to his…partner in crime? Friend? Do monsters even have friends?

"Those demons aren't finished yet. Better back off for now, you two!" Issun suggested. Oki, however, just backflipped into wolf form and growled. "No, Oki! Don't!"

Oki turned his head slightly towards us. "This is what separates a hero from the rest! You are about to witness history in the making! Kutone, trusty sword of the great hero Oki, shall awake!" He ran forward to attack, but Shiranui jumped out in front of him.

"Don't do this!" She said firmly, yet with concern in her tone. Her voice sounded almost exactly like Ammy's. "You don't know what you're getting into." Oki just growled and swung Kutone at her, which got her to back off. She gave him a sad look, which he just ignored.

"He can't do this! It's insane!" Shamiterasu gasped as she ran up to Shiranui and pressed against her mother's side, watching the Oina warrior lunge at the demons in fear.

"Has he lost his mind?" Issun questioned.

"Oki! Don't!" I yelled desperately.

And then everything stopped. Oki froze in mid-air, we all quit moving, and the colors of basically everything seemed inverted.

"What the heck?" Issun gasped out. It sounded like talking was a huge difficulty. "I can't…I can't move!"

"Hm? Grrrr!" Oki growled in frustration and anger. Nechku held his cane above the wolf and the end began to glow.

"I…I can't even breathe…Oki…get away…from…there…"

"You…demons…curse you!" There was slight fear in Oki's tone. He knew exactly what was coming.

"Oki! …No!" Talking was even more difficult than I imagined. It felt like there was an elephant sitting on my chest.

Without warning, Shiranui somehow managed to move, jumping and pushing Oki out of the way.

"Mom!" Shamiterasu tried to leap after her, and in the blink of an eye, Oki had fallen to the ground, Shiranui was stabbed and swatted away, and Shami was in the way and flew off to the side of the arena along with her mother. Ammy and I gasped and ran to help, each of us grabbing one of the wolves from the past. I grabbed onto Shamiterasu's tail, growling as I was pulled forward and right to the edge of the arena, where there was only a long fall to the ground. "D-Don't drop me!" The golden wolf yelled out in panic.

"Easy for you to say! You're…really freaking heavy!" I retorted, although I'm not sure how much of my reply could be understood with fluffy tail in my mouth.

I could faintly hear Oki's voice from the other side of the arena. Of course he had to be making a very short monologue in a time like this.

…That didn't make him any less epic.

"Now's the chance! I can finish them off!"

I heard something crack beside us, and my eyes widened.

"C'mon, you two! Pull!" Issun yelled, trying to help by pulling my tail. (How he snuck off my head without me noticing, I'll never know.) "Just a little more!"

I finally realized the cracking sound was a tree, and it was about to fall on us. But as we all braced ourselves, Oki ran in and cut the tree, giving us the time we needed to pull up the two wolves.

"Are you okay?" I asked Shamiterasu, who was shaking pretty badly while she stood.

She gave me a small nod. "Y-yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks."

"Oki!" Issun exclaimed in shock, and when I turned to look at the Oina warrior, I could quickly see why. "Your sword!"

"Hm?" Oki's eyes widened when he set his eyes on a glowing Kutone. He raised it to the sky for a few seconds before lowering it to look at it. "Kutone…it's glowing silver! By the great spirits of the air, earth, and sea! I was so blind. I should have known!" He knelt down in front of Shrianui, who licked his hand. Shami stumbled over to her mother and sat down next to her, giving Oki a tiny smile. "At last I understand. The sacred sword Kutone, defender of Kamui, could not possibly wake while the heart of its wielder was clouded with selfish desire. That is why I couldn't defend Kamui with this sword, let alone protect the lives dear to me!"

"Now don't start turnin' all sappy on me, Oki!" Issun said, which caused said Oina to look at him with slight shock. "You gotta focus. Focus!"

"Oh gods. A pep talk." I muttered quietly to the golden wolf to my left, and she laughed softly.

"Finish off those demons and you'll restore peace to your village!" Issun finished.

Oki stood up and looked at his sword resolutely. "O spirits of the air, earth, and sea…and the sacred sword Kutone! Grant me the power to save this land of Kamui!"

"That's the spirit!" I nodded, a huge grin on my face. Oki backflipped into wolf form, then me, him, and Ammy growled together.

"Now you're talkin'!" Issun cheered.

(Time Skip: After everyone went to the center of the arena…please remind me why I'm being used here?)

"It seems those demons fled to the altar on the opposite side, but I have no idea how to get there." Oki told us. "This shrine is like a maze. We need something to lead us in the right direction…wait. Remember when this wolf struck one of the demons?"

"Wait, she managed to land a blow on one?" I stared at Shiranui with a newfound respect. "I'm not even exactly sure what I saw go on there, but I didn't notice that! Dang!"

Shami laid down next to her mother and snuggled up next to her side. Shiranui licked her daughter's forehead in an attempt to comfort the golden wolf.

"Did you see that strange glowing piece that flew off of it?" Oki asked us.

Ammy nodded. "I believe so."

"Maybe this shrine and those demons operate in a similar way. If only we had something to lead us in the right direction…"

I watched Ammy run off to the edge of the arena, then come back with a gear in her mouth, a triumphant look in her face.

"I have no idea what she just found, but it sure looks interesting!" Issun commented.

"Amaterasu! Celia!" Oki barked. "This wolf isn't going to last much longer." Shamiterasu whimpered sadly. "I owe my life to this one now. I can't let this wolf die like this!"

"Don't worry. I know these wolves' companion must be around here somewhere." Issun assured him. "You'll know him right away. He's a poncle just like me."

"Hm… So these wolves have a poncle companion as well. And this one looks almost exactly like Amaterasu…what's going on? Even their scents are the same."

"It's a long story, believe me. And this is not exactly the time to be talking. We gotta chase down those demons!"

Oki nodded. "You're right! We must finish them off. Let's do it together this time!"

And with that, the elevator began to descend.

And just for the record, logical Oki is ten times better, cuter, and overall more epic than Oki before nearly dying. Just sayin'.

(Time Skip: If I had a hand and a forehead, I'd be face/palming right now. Just sayin'.)

"Listen, you three…" Oki started. "I'm going to stay here with these wolves. You go on ahead."

"What?" Issun questioned.

"I can't leave these ones here all alone." He explained. "What happened to this wolf is all my fault."

"Oki…" The poncle trailed.

"Don't worry. I don't intend on having you fight those demons alone. I'll catch up with you once I finish off the rest of the monsters and make sure this area is safe. Keep forging ahead until then."

Issun sighed in exasperation. "Oh, come off it already, Oki. You're not really all that tough. I mean, with your plan, we'd end up having to worry about you!"

"Issun," I growled softly. "Just let him take care of Shiranui. I'm sure Shami will help out if he needs it."

"Ugh, you're all against me, I swear…" He complained. "All right, if you insist, we'll leave this area to you. We'll go on ahead to where those demons are. Look after those wolves, okay?"

"I will!" Oki promised. "O spirits of the air, earth, and sea…grant these three your divine power!"

(Time Skip: The room after the room that the gear unlocked, because apparently the first room only had a golden gate…)

"Well…" I glanced over at the other side of the area, presumably the place we had to go, which was dotted with canons. "This looks like a boatload of fun." I jumped in surprise when Ammy fired off a canon on our side, (Normal canon with normal cannonballs that people have to use fire to shoot off.) destroying a canon on the other side. (Abnormal canon with abnormal cannonballs that fires at will and always fires at heroes.) She gave me a smile, and I laughed softly. "That works."

(Time Skip: This entire area was just over nine thousand epic fails and a bunch of frustration. For your convenience, it has been skipped. You're welcome.)

"Dear Moegami!" I gasped once we made it to the next room. "I'd take a blizzard any day over this!" And there you have it. A room full of spinning, _flaming_ wheels so hot that almost everything in the room has an orange hue isn't a cool place. (Again, don't shoot me if you don't like my bad puns.) A fond thank you to Orochi, who made this heck possible by knocking the fire tablet out of our inventory.

"I'll get the treasure chests. You can just go straight to the exit if you'd like." Ammy offered. I gave her the most grateful look I could possibly make and made my way across the wheels, using the huge ball of ice we'd pushed into the room (Which somehow wasn't melting. Nippon logic.) to freeze the wheels and make them suitable platforms. I had to wait for Ammy to bring over the lockjaw key, but sitting in the corner of the room was so much better compared to standing in the middle of the flames. We both ran into the next room at full-speed, practically glomping the icicles…and getting frozen solid for a few seconds in the process. I know it was causing damage, but those seconds were possibly the best seconds of my life. Plus, there was an origin mirror, so we were perfectly fine. We got an inkfinity stone and godly charm from a couple of treasure chests, sold all of our treasures to an imp merchant, (What the heck was an _imp_ merchant doing in the heart of the Wawku Shrine, which is in _Kamui?_ …Then again, I guess there was one back on Oni Island as well, so I guess imps are the only type of monsters that love to sell stuff…?) and then went up to the elevator, where a certain Oina warrior was waiting for us.

"Oki?" We all gasped at the same time. "How'd you get here so quick?" Issun questioned.

"Actually…I owe it to those wolves and their little friend." He replied. "A poncle appeared after you left and told me to go help Amaterasu and Celia." Issun seemed shocked to hear that. "So that was the wolves' companion you were talking about, right?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Those wolves really seemed to perk up when that poncle appeared." Oki commented. "It looked like the wolf had recovered somewhat. I sensed they had a bond. A bond that made me feel they'd be okay. So I left them and came rushing here." Issun was silent. "But enough talk for now. I take it that if you're here, those demons must be somewhere up ahead. Well, Amaterasu, Celia? Will you fight alongside me?"

"Of course." Ammy answered calmly.

"Let's rumble!" I growled confidently, a huge smirk on my face.

Oki cracked a smile, and I nearly stumbled into Ammy right then and there. "O spirits of the air, earth, and sea…grant us your divine power!"

(Time Skip: Once the elevator was at the arena…)

We all stood together side-by-side, preparing for the upcoming battle. Issun was bouncing on Oki's head, deciding that it was because the blue and red wolf was the one in the middle and we'd all be able to hear him clearly. A bolt of lightning flashed and rumbling thunder could be heard as Lechku and Nechku spread their wings and lifted up from their perches, looking down at us from their place in the air.

"So this is where those birdbrains went." Issun said. "They're trying to hide while they lick their wounds!"

"We can't let these infernal contraptions get away this time." Oki glared up at the monsters. "And I don't think we have enough energy to chase them down again.

"It's all or nothing." I agreed.

Ammy joined in the little pep talk. "Let's give it everything we've got." She looked over at me and smiled, and I smirked back while thinking, _really, I think I've given her the most ungodly vocabulary for a goddess in all of history._

Issun unsheathed his sword. "Them? Get away again?" He chuckled. "No prey has ever eluded my trusty Denkomaru more than once!"

"Nor my own!" Oki replied as Kutone began to glow again. We all growled together once more and the battle began.

I circled the arena, making sure I was on the side opposite of wherever Nechku was. We made our battle plan before the fight started. Ammy would take care of Lechku, I'd get Nechku, and Oki would take turns helping both of us. Ammy and I were depending on each other to take care of all the attacks of one owl so that no one else would get hurt. Staying on the opposite side would give me a wider view of the arena and a better chance at deflecting Nechku's attacks.

The first thing he did was pull a bud out of his I had to do to get rid of it was bloom it, and it even gave me a few spirit orbs. (Even though I didn't exactly need them at the moment.) A bomb appeared above his head and I used inferno, getting the fire from Ammy's weapon just for kicks, only slightly damaging the owl.

"C'mon, do an attack that I can counter and it'll actually hurt you." I growled irritably, narrowing my eyes at him. A second later I found myself barely dodging a set of razor-sharp talons. "NOT EXACTLY WHAT I ASKED FOR!" Luckily for me, next time he pulled out a bomb, he was stunned.

Oki ran up to me and made a bow out of ice, standing in the middle of it. "Now, Celia! Pull me back like an arrow and fire me at that demon! I will pull them down to the ground!"

"Oookay then." I gave a wolfish shrug and did as he told me to. The Oina was launched at Nechku's face and I ran over to them both, powerslashing the owl out of the air and spamming it with attacks from my epic weapon. Once he began flying again, I backed off, waiting for his next attack.

Unfortunately for me, I apparently couldn't draw a circle fast enough and ended up getting hit with a huge bud. Fun. All I can say is godhood for the win.

Nechku tried to use a bomb again, but this time I used inferno on it the second it appeared, the explosion leaving the robot dazed. I launched Oki at him once again, and Ammy was the one to powerslash the owl out of the sky. _Done already?_ I thought, but decided not to question the help. With three wolves working together, we easily took down the monster once and for all. He clumsily flew into Lechku and they both exploded, leaving the area 100% evil monster owl free.

_The twin demons which had suddenly awoken atop Ezofuji and tried to lay waste to the land of Kamui were defeated. They disappeared in a burst of petals, thanks to Oki, Amaterasu, and Celia. However, a giant cloud, black as night, cast a shadow on the scene. Blight…Ninetails…the twin demons Lechku and Nechku…the souls of each were swept into the cloud as it moved. It drifted toward the Ark of Yamato at the bottom of Laochi Lake. "The Ark of Yamato is beckoning all of the world's darkness within." Tuskle's words echoed ominously, awakening Amaterasu and Celia's hearts. All the sacrifices, all the life lost in the name of good…was it all in vain?_

_Shiranui, Amaterasu's 100 year old incarnation, was fatigued and exhausted by the intense battle. However, when Shiranui noticed the glow of Oki's sword, Kutone, a sly smile seemed to crease the wolf's tired lips. Satisfied with this bright glimmer of hope, Shiranui struggled to rise and put every last ounce of strength into passing through Ishaku's gate, her daughter, Shamiterasu, by her side, back in time…back home…as Amaterasu, Celia, and Issun looked on, they were fully aware that Shiranui and Shamiterasu headed back into the face of danger…to the battle with Orochi. After saving Nagi from the clutches of death and aiding them in their own quest, Shiranui would die a hero, marking the beginning of the legend of Orochi. Shamiterasu's fate, however, would not be so kind. She would give her life in a vain attempt to save her mother, and in the end, her name would be remembered by few, and her spirit would wander Nippon for years, waiting for the day when her Shiranui, reborn as Amaterasu, would finally return. As Ishaku left the scene, his eyes betrayed the sort of toughness one exhibits when preparing for a grave event._

* * *

><p>It's typo time, kids!<p>

Typo of the chapter:

_"I sm yhr lsdy of the 13 brush gods you sought."_


	33. The Final Dungeon

Hey, guys! Surprised to see an update on Friday? (Instead of on Monday when it should be. Derp.) Okay, the update schedule for this is going to be just a liiitle different now that we're so close to the end. This chapter... well, obviously, it's going up today. In case you couldn't figure that out. The next update is going to be on Wednsday the 27th, which is the 1-year-anniversary! (And don't worry, it will be uploaded on that day. I just have to write out a scene or two more, but I stayed up until 12 last night getting through the final battle and cutscenes.) 8D That will _ technically_ bring OACA to a close, but we've still got some bonus chapters that need to be uploaded! ...And written out, for that matter... *sweatdrop* There's not going to be a clear update schedule for that, unfortunately. I'll just write the stuff out when I have some freetime. (To all you Chuggaaconroy fans out there, these bonus chapters are probably going to be the equivalent to bonus videos for his LPs! ...Which we all know means it'll take forever to get them up, most likely. Sue me.) The first one will be up hopefully soon, and it'll be full of Q&A, (So start asking questions, people!) fun facts, and bloopers. The next two bonus chapters are going to be a couple of dungeons that were skipped, the Moon Cave and the Water Dragon. Those are the ones that might take some time getting out. Sorry about that, but I have to figure out when I have a bunch of time where I'll be undisturbed and I can use a laptop, there's the matter of just the time it takes to write everything out, I'm not always in the mood to write, etc.

Anyways, thank you to everyone who reviewed! Cookie Island now has... uh... Ninjago DVDs...? *shot* (Yes, I have recently been turned into a fan of Ninjago. Problem, officer? ...I just wish the fandom was more than just a group of rabid ten-year-old Cole and Zane fangirls who love nothing more than making a group of 5 under-developed OCs, putting them into an OC insert, and pairing them with everyone. -.- Not saying that's the entire fandom, but... okay I'm just going to shut up now and spare you all from my ranting.)

By the way, does anyone have any good ideas for a title to the sequel? Yes, it'll be Celia going through Okamiden along with Chibiterasu. (I have a feeling most of you are going to say Okami Chibiterasu and Celia's Adventure... XD)

Chapter 30- The Final Dungeon

_Amaterasu and the others returned to the foot of Ezofuji. There they saw Lika, praying intently. The storm had subsided. Then, as if to celebrate their hard won victory, the twin volcanoes of Ezofuji erupted in great pillars of flame. The villagers felt the warmth on their skin and wept tears of joy. However, Oki merely surveyed the scene stoically, remaining silent. Although the evil demons had been driven away, the thought of having taken the sword and caused so much grief weighed heavily on his heart. The only one who could ease the burden of his woes was Samickle. The chieftain who had rescued Kemu from the shrine stepped forward. Silently, he approached Oki, offering an outstretched hand. His eyes betrayed the complexity of the emotions behind the gesture. Oki, realizing the gravity of the scene, extended his hand in turn. The moment they shook hands, Wep'keer was reborn into a village far too strong to ever fall victim to evil again. As for Kutone, the sword that vanquished the twin demons, it was returned to its pedestal by Oki's own hands. And as long as the glow remained, no evil dared draw close. Kutone's gleam spoke of a power too great to succumb to evil._

_At that moment, a brilliant flash of light shot forth from Kutone, striking squarely on the frozen surface of Laochi Lake. Though the lake had never shown any signs of melting, cracks began to open up along its surface. The legend of the iron ark, Yamato, said to have fallen from heaven, and the holy Laochi Lake which it called home, was revealed to be more than a mere legend before all those present._

The sight of the Ark of Yamato floating in the sky was definitely a fearful one. The rainbow bridge leading up to it just made it a tad less threatening, but still, we all knew what was on that ark. Yami, the emperor of eternal darkness. If that doesn't put some fear into you, then you, my friend, have some serious issues.

I felt Ammy nudge my shoulder and turned, giving her a questioning look.

"I want to visit Ishaku before we board the ark." She said softly. "Is that okay with you two?"

"Fine by me." I nodded. "Issun?"

"Just don't expect me to go in there." He huffed, probably crossing his arms.

(Time Skip: At the area of Yoshpet where Ponc'tan is…)

"What. The heck. Was that?" I gasped out between huge gulps of air. My lungs were on fire. I leaned against Ammy for support, although really, it was more like I was nearly lying on her back.

My friend gave me a concerned glance. "Are you going to be okay?"

_Shamiterasu, I swear to your mom-_ My thoughts were interrupted by said wolf's voice sounding in my head.

"_Calm down and trust me for a second. I just temporarily changed you to your human form so you'd have an easier time getting through Yoshpet." _Her tone sounded innocent.

_Yeah, it did a lot of good. Thanks for that._ I replied sarcastically.

"_Don't worry. I'm the daughter of a prophet. Everything will work out just fine, I promise."_

_It'd better,_ I mentally huffed and finally stood up. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I just needed to catch my breath."

"Do you want to come into Ponc'tan with me?" She offered.

I shook my head. "Nah, I'll just stay out here. You know Ishaku better than me. I'd just ruin the moment." The wolf nodded, then went over to the magical tree stump, shrunk to the size of a bug via lucky mallet, and disappeared into Ponc'tan. I sighed and walked into the clearing, looking around to examine all the plants and animals. It was pretty surprising they survived in Kamui, and in the heart of Yoshpet, of all places. Right when you step close to Ponc'tan, everything just seems brighter and cheerier even though if you look just a bit further, you can still see snow covering the ground. And with a food supply that would seem limited, it makes you wonder how there are so many animals living there.

Suddenly, without any warning at all, I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I instinctively tensed up, prepared to fight back, before I realized I wasn't being attacked or kidnapped or anything like that. The thought caused me to relax, but my eyes widened when I heard a familiar soft chuckle next to my ear.

"Issun?"

"Who else would it be?" He questioned, and I'll admit, he _did_ have a point there. I opened my mouth to respond, but he released his grip and turned me around, his hands on my shoulders. My heartbeat sped up. Part of me was curious, part of me already had an idea of what was going on, but all of me was completely dumbfounded for reasons I couldn't even figure out.

"Listen, Silver," He started. His expression was serious. "I got the message, okay?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What message?"

I swear, I think I saw Issun's cheeks turn slightly red as he closed his eyes. "Whenever Oki was around or you talked about him with Ammy, you'd get all googly-eyed and cheery, and I hated it. I was jealous, okay? Now I know why you always got angry when I tried to flirt with someone." He opened his eyes and had this seriously guilty look on his face.

Suddenly, something in my brain just clicked, and I smirked. "So you think I acted like I had a crush on Oki to make you jealous?" I barely kept down my laughter. "Bug boy, none of that was an act, and I wasn't intentionally trying to teach you a lesson. It just worked out perfectly without me trying."

Issun seemed slightly shocked, but got over the fact quickly. "I'm sorry, okay? Can we just…start over or somethin'?"

I took a deep breath. "Do you promise not to flirt with other girls anymore?"

The seriousness in Issun's eyes was almost scary to see from someone like him. "I swear."

I took his hands off my shoulders and held them in-between us. "All right. Apology accepted."

"What're you gonna do when you put the kibosh on Yami?" He changed topics, but his tone stayed the same.

I gave a small shrug. "I was just planning to go back home, I guess. Any reason for this random question?"

"Silver, I was wondering…" He paused and brought his face close to mine, and I felt my cheeks warm up. "Would you wanna stay here in Nippon?"

"Huh?" I stared at him in surprise.

"C'mon, Fluffy. We could live in Kamiki or Kusa Village or somethin' and go around killing any leftover monsters from time to time. Ammy'll be happy on the Celestial Plains, some other poncle can be her envoy, and we can forget about havin' to take care of Nippon."

"Issun…" I trailed uncertainly. "I ju-" I was cut off with a kiss, and my heartbeat just took off in a racecar without me. My mind was buzzing with confusion. On one hand, I could stay in Nippon and hang out with Issun for the rest of my life, which _did_ sound like a very tempting offer. On the other hand, this sounded like a freaking marriage proposal minus the ring, wedding, and question 'Will you marry me?' Plus, I had a home I had to get back to. At that point, my family was probably worried sick about me, and I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

I pulled away, much sooner than I wanted to. "I'm sorry Issun…I have to go home."

"I figured you'd say that." He admitted, then took something out of nowhere and pressed it into my left hand. "In case you never come back, here's somethin' to remember me and Nippon by." He took a step away from me and I examined the object in my hand. It was a silver paintbrush with purple designs. It would've looked simple to anyone back home, but to most people in Nippon, they'd know it was a celestial brush. I pointed the brush to the nearest patch of grass and flicked my wrist, causing the grass to instantly be cut.

"Thank you." I told him, then crossed my arms. "And if I come back and hear you've been flirting with girls again, you little perv, I'll make sure to turn you into a crispy critter."

Before he could respond, Ammy appeared in front of Ponc'tan. I was about to put my celestial brush away when I realized that I was in wolf form again. A glance over at Issun told me he was back to normal size, and confused by how it happened.

"Are you two ready to go?" She asked us.

"Let's go kick some emperor of eternal darkness butt!" I growled with a smirk. As we left to go back through Yoshpet and to the Ark of Yamato, I closed my eyes for a moment.

_Arigatou, Shamiterasu._

(Time Skip: Okay, fluff scene over! Everyone carry on with your normal lives! Anyways, back on Laochi Lake…)

You know, I would've never imagined that a pretty, colorful, peaceful object that had its own popular meme and song could be intimidating, but as I looked up at the rainbow bridge in front of us, I could only think of three words to describe it.

Scary. As. Heck.

I was only half surprised when I first set paw on it and felt solid ground beneath me, (Logic-defying Nippon will stay true to its name up until the bitter end, it seems.) and even less when we were stopped by Issun only a few feet away from the alter where Kutone rested.

"W-wait! Wait, you two!"

I sighed. "What is it now, Issun?"

"You know what'll happen if you cross this rainbow bridge and board the Ark of Yamato, don't you?" He questioned as if we were cluless.

"We'll get a free bag of peanuts?" I tried. Yes, I had to ruin the moment. It's my job.

Issun didn't seem to appreciate the fact that I was doing that. "I'm serious, Fluffy. That boat is bad news. The people of Kamui all know that. It's the most hated and feared thing in all the land. Even the legends have nothing good to say about it or Laochi Lake. And you know there's no turning back once you board that thing.

I heard Ammy mutter something under her breath, but I couldn't quite catch it.

How Issun did was beyond me. "Huh? …'Resolve'? You mean you've got the resolve to pass the point of no return?"

My friend nodded, then looked at me. "Do you?"

I glanced up the rest of the rainbow path and narrowed my eyes at the open door, which led to darkness. "What's the point of going through any trial if you just plan on giving up right before the end?" I asked softly, then raised my voice. "I didn't come this far just to quit. Of course I have the resolve!"

Ammy gave me a small smile, and I returned it with a confident, excited one.

"I see…" Issun mused. "Well, I guess this is it then." The way he worded it put me off a bit, and I decided to brace myself for whatever was going to come. "Ammy…don't go dying like you did 100 years ago." He told her seriously.

The moment was so tense, I just had to lighten it up a little by adding, "Feels like it was only yesterday…"

I could see Ammy trying to suppress a laugh. Mission accomplished. "It was today, Celia."

"That explains so much!" I gasped in fake shock.

The goddess rolled her eyes.

Issun, however, didn't take part in the humorous moment. "The same goes for you, Silver."

"It's not like I'm gonna go jumping off the side of the ark or anything…" I paused for a second. "Not like that would probably kill me. We're in Nippon, after all." I sensed the poncle's unamusement in his silence. "Okay, okay. I swear I'll be careful."

This finally seemed to satisfy him, and we continued up the evil bridge of prettiness. That is, until we were stopped once again by Issun right before stepping on board.

"W-wait a sec, you two!" He ordered as he jumped off my head and a few feet in front of us as we stopped walking like obedient little doggies.

"Um…well…we've been through a lot together." He started awkwardly. I sensed a long speech coming up. "How long's it been since we all first met? It all started in the valley of Sakuya's chest…"

_And even in serious speeches, he's still a pervert,_ I noted dully.

"Then we laid the smack down on Orochi..then that fox wench…"

Ammy tilted her head and twitched her ears as I asked, "Where are you going with this?"

Of course, he acted like he had never been interrupted and continued. "We even went inside the Emperor's body and traveled to the bottom of the sea. Then, before I knew it, I found myself back in my own land…and now it all ends with the appearance of the legendary ark. But for you, it's just the start of an even greater adventure." He paused and stopped bouncing. I had a very bad feeling about this. "Sorry, you two…I'm afraid this is where say goodbye."

"What? Huh?" We gasped at the same time. The other wolf took a step forward, but Issun jumped backwards, causing her to stop.

"As I told you both from the beginning, I joined so that I could steal those thirteen brush techniques of yours, Ammy. We've found them all during our travels, and now each and every one has been etched into my mind." He jumped a little higher in front of our faces and made a circle with his paintbrush, creating a tiny blue flower out of thin air. I moved my left paw forward and caught it as it gently floated down. "It's not like I've mastered them yet, but…I plan on having loads if fun with my newfound skills. It's a bit sad to see you both go, but ya gotta do what you gotta do!" He tried to keep his tone upbeat, but it wasn't exactly working out that well. I felt betrayed and angry, but when I thought about it, I couldn't stay mad at him. After all, I had been planning to do the exact same thing, hadn't I? Kick some emperor of eternal darkness butt with my friends, bid everyone a fond adios, and then go back to my normal life and pretend that nothing had ever happened?

"Take care of yourselves!" Issun's casual words pilled me out of my thoughts. Ammy and I just turned and stared as our celestial envoy bounced past us and made his way back down the rainbow bridge.

We shared a glance, nodded, and chased after our friend.

Issun spun around instantly to face us. (I assumed.) "No, you two! No! Look…Ammy, you're a god. Silver is a human. I'm a sprite. We all live in completely different worlds. The road ahead may be a tough one, but it's just one you two are just gonna have to walk without me."

Ammy nodded, but I let out a soft whine. "Issun…" My friend started.

He cut her off with a short, sad chuckle. "I know, I know…it's just, I got things I need to do too, ya know?"

I was tempted to reply with, _Like flirting with girls while I'm not around to watch you?_

"Now let's wrap this up. I can't stand long goodbyes." He turned around- and yes, I was close enough to actually see it for myself- and said, "Farewell, my furry friends!" as he bounced away.

I grit my teeth, had a second-long internal debate, and took a few more steps towards the poncle.

Issun spun around on his heels and I heard him unsheathe Denkomaru. "Hold it right there, Fluffy!"

I froze in shock, then backed up as he advanced towards me, swinging his sword around madly.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" He exclaimed in frustration and exasperation. I bared my teeth and took a step behind Ammy. "We gotta go our separate ways! Now leave me alone, you thick-headed lump of fur!"

"Fine then, you perverted little bouncing midget!" I shot back angrily. "Good-freaking-riddance!"

And then _he_ just had to show up to make the moment ten times worse.

"He's right, _mon etoile!_ Your way- along with Amaterasu's- lies with this ark." Cue Waka spinning around with an amount of sparkles that went way past overkill as he landed on the top of the ark.

"You again!" Issun took the words right out of my mouth.

"At last…" Waka muttered, and then lifted up his head, raising his voice. "At last, a path to the heavens has opened up! Oh, _fantastique!_ How long have I yearned for this moment? 200 years?" He crossed his arms and shook his head. "No, it must've been much longer."

My jaw dropped. _WAKA IS AN INSANELY OLD DUDE?_

"Bah! What're you babbling on about now, ya big fruitcake?" Issun questioned skeptically. "A path to the heavens? On that creepy old hunk of junk? What a fitting exit for a half-baked prophet like you!"

All anger with the poncle I had went away instantly as I muttered, "Amen to that." under my breath.

"I have no idea what you're up to, and frankly, I don't care. I'm not a part of this anymore, so I'm gonna split! Have fun, you three!" Issun turned around and made his way down the bridge for the 100th time that day, it seemed.

Of course, typical Waka just couldn't pass up an opportunity to taunt Issun. "Afraid of the legendary ark, are we?"

That got the poncle to pause and turn around. (For the 101st time.) "What did you say?"

"Well, if you must go, then go. Besides, only those worthy of the trip to the heavens may board the fabled Ark of Yamato." He narrowed his eyes and pointed his flute at Issun. "You never had a ticket and you never will!"

Issun was bouncing in anger. "Why you witless, two-bit, half-baked prophet!" He exclaimed in rage. "You're just trying to trick me into getting on that stupid boat! I'm not gonna fall for something like that! I'm no fool! So there!"

"Could've fooled me…" I muttered. A second later I paused, frowned, then wished we were closer to a rock so I could bash my head against it for unintentionally making a pun that bad.

Of course, Issun had to contradict himself a few seconds later. "Wait a sec…I know! Maybe I should just hop on board your little boat…" He mused. "Yeah…and then…" He slashed his weapon around a couple of times. "I should tear the place apart as a little parting gift to you!"

For the 102nd time, he jumped back up the bridge, going right past Ammy and me…and got hit with the handy dandy bug zapper 2000 that was apparently installed in the doorway, sending him tumbling down the bridge for the 103rd time.

Waka just chuckled. "Don't blame me. I already told you." He said, keeping an innocent tone. "Only those worthy of the trip to the heavens may board."

Issun was silent.

"But you didn't need me to tell you that, my little bouncing friend." Waka went on. "You know very wel why you can't board this ark. Do I not speak the truth, little celestial envoy?" He pointed his flute again at Issun, who seemed stunned.

Suddenly, the bridge under our feet began to fade away.

"Well, it's about time." Waka commented, a slightly impatient tone in his voice.

Ammy and I jumped onto the solid platform in front of us and turned around just in time to see Issun fall down to the lake, screaming the entire way down.

"Issun!" We both barked in shock and concern.

Waka jumped down onto the platform to join us. "My little bouncing friend!" He called. "I have another prophecy for you! Listen up, because this will no doubt come in handy for you."

I backed up and stared as Waka grabbed Ammy's paws and attempted to do something that vaguely resembled a dance. "It takes two to tango! The bond of the brush shall intercede!"

As soon as the 'dance' was over, Ammy shook her head, a clearly embarrassed look on her face. It took every last scrap of self control I had not to laugh in any way, shape, or form, even despite the current circumstances.

Waka scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I thought I'd give you the long version since it was my last. Pretty good, don't you think?"

I'd have to be lying to say I wasn't tempted to shove the prophet off the platform while he was so close to the edge.

At Issun's silence, Waka frowned and crossed his arms. "Those unwilling to fulfill their own destiny cannot board the ferry to the Celestial Plain. Life is all about resolve. Outcome is secondary. It is _resolve_ that determines the value of your life. You have no doubt met many such resolute people in your journeys." His attitude changed back to the standard cheerful and cocky nature as he said, "Well, my little bouncing friend…I must bid you adieu!" HE turned around and stopped in the doorway to the ark. "Shall we, _ma cherie? Mon etoile?_ We have a date with destiny, and we mustn't keep her waiting!"

I whimpered as the door began to close, and even though I jumped up, trying to escape, I was soon trapped in with Ammy. I leaned against the door as I clenched my teeth and forced my eyes shut. _Issun...you stupid, stubborn, lazy poncle_, I growled in my thoughts. _And I actually thought you'd help us kick Yami's butt…I should've known better._

"Celia?" Ammy said gently. "You don't have to help me. You can just stay here if you want…"

I opened my eyes, moved away from the support of the wall, and shook my head vigorously. "No way. If I'm in this ark, I'm obviously here for a reason, and it's definitely not to stand around doing nothing." I gave her a determined look. "Let's do this."

Ammy grabbed the little blue flower that Issun had created. I was surprised it made it into the ark. She put it behind my ear, gave me a small, sad smile, and we walked side by side down the path. But surprisingly enough for an ark that sunk and was frozen over for 200 years, there were still people there to prolong our journey, it seemed.

"My goodness! I can hardly believe it!" A male voice exclaimed. We both followed the sound to a transparent person who resembled the statues back in the Tao Headquarters. "My eyes may have been enveloped in darkness all this time, but I know when I see a divine being before me! Okami Amaterasu, you've returned home!" He exclaimed excitedly.

I coughed in an awkward manner. "I'm here too, you know."

The man was caught off-guard by this, but quickly regained his composure. "Of course. Welcome, Terasugin. I, Marco, would like to welcome you both on behalf of all Celestials!" He paused, and then suddenly gasped. "Oh! I made a mistake. I said that you'd returned home, Amaterasu, but of course, I was wrong. This is the inside of the dreaded ark which fell from the heavens. It's nothing like our wonderful home, the Celestial Plain. Alas, only my spirit remains in this world. It's been this way for many years."

"That sucks." I commented.

"Perhaps it was just my destiny." He replied calmly. "Okami Amaterasu…Terasugin…I'd be so grateful if you could bestow upon us a small gift. Not only for me, but for the others who succumbed to death. In exchange I will give what I can. I'm sure that it would lift everyone's spirits."

This was basically a very fancy way of saying that Marco was both a merchant and a demon fang trader.

After buying two bags of gold dust, (Which cost a fortune, by the way.) one for each of our awesome weapons, we both stood on the raised platform in the middle of the ark, unsure of what exactly to do with five separate paths in front of us.

"Maybe the symbols above each door mean something?" Ammy suggested after a long silence.

I stared for a while at the furthest one on the left. "It looks like…Ninetails."

"And the one over here resembles Blight." My friend added.

"Crimson Helm…"

"Orochi…"

"And the Spider Queen." We finished together. I sighed. "Rematches? Really?" _For shame, Clover Studios. For shame._

Ammy nodded. "It seems so. Should we go together, or separately?" She asked me.

I narrowed my eyes at the large glowing red symbol I the middle and the one to its left. "You take care of Blight and Ninetails. I've got these two." The first two boss fights were the ones I did badly with. I just felt like I needed to have another chance at them. Going alone only made it better. I'd be fine. I'd improved a lot since before. Those fights seemed like a lifetime ago.

"…All right…" Ammy agreed slowly. "And then we'll fight Orochi together when we're both done."

I nodded and jumped off the raised platform, headed towards the middle path. "Good luck, Ammy…not like you'll need it."

"Same to you, Celia."

I ran down the pathway, determined to do a good job in the fight, when I was interrupted by another Celestial.

Of course.

"Goodness! If I'm not mistaken…You're the wolf who has been aiding Amaterasu on her journey. It's you, Terasugin!"

"Actually," I replied awkwardly. "My name is just Celia, not Terasugin. A little birdy told me what it meant, and…well, I don't prefer being called a patio."

"All right, Celia." The Celestial didn't seemed fazed at all, which I was grateful for. "Who would have thought we would ever meet? All my waiting under the dark, cold ice has paid off."

"Um…nice to meet you, too…" I decided to just blame it on the dialogue.

"We Celestials may have lost our physical forms…but our spirits live on and are with you for all eternity!"

Yeaaah, failed dialogue change.

She just continued. "We were heartbroken after the battle on the Celestial Plain, when Amaterasu fell to this world with that monster. We managed to escape before it happened, but…little did we know the tragedy that was about to befall us." Oh, goody. Story time, kiddies. "After we ran away from the battle, we boarded the Ark of Yamato hoping to get away. But not long after we set said, countless monsters appeared from the depths of the ark. Having nowhere to run, all of us were devoured by the monsters."

I winced. "Ouch."

"This ark, which was built by the lunar civilization, turned out to be a cargo ship designed to transport thousands of monsters. Not long after setting sail, the ark lost its rudder and plummeted down to this world. The Celestials on board, each and every one of us, were slain. I don't know why the Moon Tribe built such a thing. But when the ark fell to this world and brought such tragedy…" She paused, then sighed. "Well, it was nothing short of a disaster. Tera- I mean, Celia…it seems the ark has begun to moe again after all this time. But this place is like a nest of dark beings. Please take care not to be sucked into the darkness."

I nodded. "Will do! I'm not losing any of these battles!" And with that, I ran into the middle of the room, into the beam of light, and into the first battle arena.

I glared up at the Spider Queen in front of me. "All right. Rematch time." As soon as I heard her laugh, I sprinted off to the left, swishing my tail from random Konahana Blossoms to the hooks on her butt, not even caring to check when I was successful. I just focused on constantly moving. If I made the same mistake as last time, I'd end up getting a broken leg again, or maybe even worse. The tactic paid off, and soon enough, the spider was stunned, revealing her weakness.

I jumped up onto the disturbing flower, a tiny smirk on my face. "Let's finish this quickly, shall we?" I used the fiery crystals on my weapon and inferno to burn all the eyeballs to a crisp in no time at all. If only I'd been able to do that the first time…

I just shrugged, ran into the beam of light, and went to go talk to the Celestial again.

"Celia!" The Celestial exclaimed as soon as she saw me. Okay, seriously. Was it really so surprising I made it back alive and in one piece? I mean, I didn't fail _that_ badly in the first fight, did I?

…Don't answer that.

"It seems two of the dark beings have disappeared." She observed. "I have already talked to Amaterasu, who is disposing of another…if only all the evil power would leave our midst. Then I'm sure the ark would return to the Celestial Plain. Ah…I was ready for immortality. But now it seems the time has come for my spirit to take leave. It's brought joy to my heart to have met you and Amaterasu before I depart. I hope that she will return to the Celestial Plain, you along with her, and that you will bring light to this world once more." I stared as she disappeared before my eyes. After a minute or two, I quietly walked over to the next battle, fully expecting to be interrupted again.

"It's you, Celia!"

And interrupted I was.

"Hi." I lifted a paw, trying to suffice it as a wave.

"I did wonder when the ark began to move. Lo and behold, it's Amaterasu's helper!" And then he suddenly switched topics. "Why did such tragedy befall us? This ark was built by the lunar civilization as a rescue boat. It had been enshrined in the Celestial Plains for many years. We believed it would be safe. In order to ensure our future existence, we fled to the ark when the monster attacked us. How could we have known this ark would become our coffin? I don't know…" He answered his own question before I could even think of a response. "Maybe it was our destiny. Perhaps it was all decided from the start. That monster, Orochi, who attacked the Celestial Plain, had suddenly come flying across the sea of stars. After destroying our people and our homeland, it went on to cause pain and suffering in this world. Perhaps…perhaps it was all pre-ordained by the Moon Tribe."

That was all the Celestial had to say, so I just went ahead and ran into the next fight.

By the way, those beam things are for the win.

I got into a battle position and narrowed my eyes at the huge beast in front of me. "All right, I took down Queeny, I can beat you too." I growled. Crimson Helm does not like threats, it seems, because it sent a blast of fire right at me. That, or it already had some anger management issues and wanted to take its frustration out on me. Whichever.

Anyways, I just dodged to the left easily. Its attacks were a lot easier to evade, it seemed. I guess I got faster from all the running around Nippon Ammy and I did throughout our adventure.

"You call that an attack?" I yelled just to make it mad. _C'mon…just charge at me…_

I found myself avoiding another stream of fire, much to my frustration and annoyance. Seriously, the thing was probably doomed. Did it really have to be so stubborn about its death? We were kinda under a time limit. The Day of Darkness waits for no one except those who run around collecting stray beads before crossing the point of no return.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the third time, but the _fifth_ that was the charm, apparently. I ran up to the monster and whacked it a few times with my weapon, only to do absolutely nothing. My godhood was even taken out and I lost two solar units of damage a second later when I couldn't get out of range of another stupid fire attack.

So less health, no godhood, a lot of pain, and _absolutely no damage_ was what this all amounted to. I was beginning to dislike my odds.

My burned tail and I retreated—a rather fail retreat, I have to admit. Dashing over metal, in a stupid wolf body, over the runes I go, stumbling all the way~- to get a rest, but Crimson Helm didn't seem to like the thought of letting that happen, as proven by another stream of flames that came way too close to me for my liking.

Despite the dangers, I stopped stumbling around and paused to take a few deep breaths. Nearly being given a heart attack by your friendly overgrown bull nearly running you over isn't exactly a fun experience. Just in case you've never had to go through that yourself. I used my epic weapon to hit Crimson Helm a few times and did a small victory dance in my head…that is, before being whacked by a flaming sword and flung to the floor. I yelped in pain and shakily got to my feet, using my subweapon (Which was a rosary at the time) to hit my attacker a few more times. Surprisingly enough, it was enough to stun him, which raised my hopes a little, but after hitting him a few more times the same way to get his armor off, I decided that instead of going in to attack, which was probably impossible at that point anyways due to the attack that had just been landed on me, I tried to rest up as long as I could. If I had known that span of time was only a few seconds, I probably would've gone in to attack just for the heck of it, because the only thing my choice did was give me time to get up on my feet before Crimson Helm was up again. And this time he was angry, as proven by nearly hitting me with the same attack that had first got me- jumping into the air and falling back down in a burst of flames.

_C'mon, Celia,_ I thought, gritting my teeth as I breathed in rapidly, trying to get as much air as I could so I could prepare to run again on short notice. _It's just a flaming skeleton now. You don't have to worry about armor anymore. You can do this._

…

_Aww crap, who am I kidding? I can't do this!_ I screamed in my mind as I sprung away from the danger zone- about a five-foot radius of Crimson Helm as he fell back to the ground. I, of course, just had to slip up then, and tripped over my feet, sending me somersaulting a few times before I managed to stop. It would've been comical for anyone watching, but to the chick in pain who was currently seeing stars in her vision? Not so much. I really started to doubt my chances of survival when I couldn't scramble out of the way fast enough and ended up getting hit AGAIN by Crimson Helm's sword. I think I've already explained the health system of real-life Okami, and by that time I was in too much pain to do almost anything, which meant my health was pretty low. Oh, and here's the fun thing: grabbing stuff out of the tools pouch takes real time, unlike going to the pause screen to do whatever you want. This meant I didn't have the time- or much of the energy, either- to pull out a medium holy bone and get back in the fight.

So all this amounted to a pretty bad situation, as you can probably figure out. But when Crimson Helm somehow got his armor back, I really, truly, honest to Shiranui, gave up on my chances of surviving the battle…

…So you can't imagine my complete and utter relief when Ammy appeared in the middle of the arena to save the day. She didn't even waste time in saying a simple, "Hi." And instead instantly went after Crimson Helm. She timed her attacks, jumped out of the way at the perfect moment when it attacked, and basically did everything I didn't, which was probably why she finished it off before my mind could even fully process what had just happened.

"Celia!" My friend gasped as soon as she ran up to me. "Yomigami… What were you doing in that fight?" She grabbed out our only large holy bone and offered it to me, which I gladly took.

"Oh, y'see, I figured maybe I could find a way to make peace with Crimson Helm so I decided to play some Go Fish with it. When that didn't work, I told it a few jokes. It doesn't like bad jokes about pirates and rated R movies, by the way. So after that, I just started doing the polka in the middle of the arena for kicks and giggles." I replied sarcastically after I was finished omnomnomming on the holy bone.

Ammy rolled her eyes. "Well, you're back to normal." She decided. "Let's go."

And thus, we walked into the pretty beam of light and went to go talk to the celestial again.

Yes, I couldn't figure out any better way to word that. Problem, officer?

"Okami Amaterasu and Terasugi—"

"I AM NOT A SILVER PATIO, FOR THE LOVE OF TSUTAGAMI WEARING A FREAKING TUTU."

This resulted in about a minute of awkward silence and two people staring at me.

"Uh… Anyways…" The Celestial said awkwardly. "I sense the presence of someone here on the ark… Could it be that man from the Moon Tribe?"

_Oh, joy. We've got a murderer on board the ship. Can I just assume now that he's referring to the final boss?_

"I can feel his pain, somewhere deep down inside this ark. Amaterasu… whatever your name is… you must save him without a moment's delay. You must stop the seeds of tragedy from being sown!"

_Okay… Maybe not the final boss…_ I decided.

"In order for this evil in the world to be exorcised, the sun goddess Amaterasu must return to the Celestial Plain. I pray that you will watch over the world from the heavens and that you will bestow peace upon us all!" And another one bites the dust.

…What?

"Come on, Celia…" Ammy said. Her tone seemed a bit weird, like her mind was somewhere else. "We still need to get rid of Orochi."

"Right." I nodded and followed her to the last battle.

But not before we were interrupted by yet another Celestial! Raise your hand if you saw this coming.

"I've been waiting for you, Okami Amaterasu!" I should've figured I'd be ignored now that Ammy was with me. "My fleeting spirit will disappear at any moment. I'm glad I was able to hold on long enough to meet with you. Long, long ago, you and Orochi fell together to this world. Then you waited for the Chosen One to put an end to Orochi's life. You waited patiently for countless moons, until finally the Chosen One, Nagi, was born. Together you sent the monster of the moon to its fate. You didn't realize it, but that was just one ripple in the wave of darkness! It's exactly 100 years since the legend of Nagi." Technically, we were just a little bit past 100 years or else we'd be in Kamiki Village waiting for Orochi's arrow to hit Kushi's house. Just saying. "The monster was quietly recovering its strength for all those years, until it used Nagi's descendant, Susano, to complete its revival. And once again it tried to destroy this world. When you both defeated it," I was acknowledged. Le gasp. "the next stage of its plan began. It cursed the land with its evil power and the world was soon overrun with monsters from the ark. Orochi's evil essence was more than enough to power them all. The smoldering powers of darkness exploded throughout Nippon and the world was thrown into a storm of chaos never seen before. After that… well, you saw with your own eyes. The evil powers that left those monsters you defeated have all gathered here in the Ark of Yamato. Exorcism of the roots of evil is a daunting task. You must keep your eyes open for what's in the center of the darkness!"

"Don't worry, Azumi." Ammy assured the Celestial. "We will."

I ran into the next room, my friend on my heels, but paused right before we reached the green beam of light and sat down. We had trouble battling Orochi last time, and that was very recently, so just jumping back into the same danger didn't sound like the greatest idea in the world at the moment. I mean, I know I had a reputation to keep, but just because I can be reckless doesn't mean I'm an idiot.

Ammy poked my shoulder with her paw. I glanced over at her and my eyes widened when I saw what she was holding in her mouth: A new fire tablet.

"Where'd you get that?-!" I questioned, staring at the item in disbelief.

She just smiled. "Marco sold it to me for a few demon fangs. We got the golden ink pot back as well."

I was silent for a moment before finally saying, "You think of everything, don't you?"

"Just about." She laughed, and with that, we jumped into the beam of light.

"We're staying together this time no matter what." Ammy declared as we stared down the dragon that we had already defeated twice.

I simply nodded. "Yup."

I couldn't help but send a smug smirk in Orochi's direction when his first attack was hitting us with fire. When you're just standing there with flames surrounding you, you just immediately feel awesome. And that feeling is well justified.

As always, the fire head roared at us in anger, and we gave it some sake. How the eight purification sake got onto the Ark of Yamato is beyond me. The same thing was repeated once more, after all, Orochi is just an idiotic snake that never seems to learn from previous events, and we moved onto the darkness head. When two buds flew towards us, Ammy and I both just bloomed them in mid-air, once again achieving that level of awesomeness that makes you feel so freaking awesome.

"Here, have some sake, buddy." I said boredly as I made a line from the sake to the darkness head's mouth, which didn't seem to make him happy. He used the same attack, but the power of darkness was no match for the power of _pretty little flowers!_ Apparently.

After making the second head go unconscious, we moved on to the third one, the wind head! He gave us a little welcome present in the form of a tornado, but one small galestorm took care of it while Ammy began making the head drunk. Wash, rinse, repeat, and we had ourselves an opening to attack the bell on Orochi's back.

And what kind of gods and/or humans would we have been not to just cheat and use exorcism slips for this? Come on, you know it makes things ten times easier.

We were onto the second stage, so far so good. I had a lot more confidence than last time we tried to take Orochi down, I'll say that much.

After all, you know you're gonna have an easy time defeating an enemy when they try to lunge at you and _they can't even reach you._ That coupled with the fact that it only took three splashes of sake to kill the fire head just made the entire ordeal seem like a joke now. I was almost ashamed that we did so badly the second time around.

Almost. I love the fire tablet and golden ink pot, thank you. Just as much as the fact that pretty pink petals are seriously the way you counter the darkness head's attack. It's just so sad and pathetic. It turned tragic when it took Ammy and me less than five seconds to finish off the head.

We used the same tactic as always on the wind head and no one got hurt except for him… her… it… I have no clue what gender those things are. Sue me. And like for the fire head, we just splashed it a few times and it was dead.

…I will say again. Pathetic.

By now I think I've established that this fight was just one big fail on Orochi's part, right? Okay, good. Because the water head just tried doing the exact same thing the fire one did, and not to mention its weakness was fire, which meant a few burns killed it off.

Lightning head is an idiot, this is a widely-known fact, so you can imagine how this went. The only thing that bought it a few seconds more than the others was the fact that we had to powerslash the stupid thing out of its confusion when it lost track of where we were.

At least the light head's attack was just a bit threatening. I mean, when you've practically been blinded for a few seconds and just have to run around hoping you don't get hit by one of the beams of light, it does add a bit more of a challenge factor. Luck must've been on our side, though, (Obviously, as proved by how easily the other heads were taken down.) since neither Ammy or I was hit by the attack. Four powerslashes was all it took to finish off that part of the fight.

Ammy used galestorm to blow away the approaching poison coming from none other than the poison head, (Nah, I thought it was all the earth head.) I gave it some sake, and we both finished it off quick as always.

And, since it was the last one, to give the earth head some credit, Ammy and I _did_ jump over the initial wave of dust and were nearly hit by the actual attack itself. Double jump saved us from something probably close to a solar unit of damage or something… if even that. The fight was finally over with a few burns, splashes, and a powerslash or two, and Ammy and I had a ten-second party for our great accomplishment on redeeming ourselves from the last fight. (I still didn't exactly get back at Crimson Helm for kicking my butt, but I guess you can't always win, huh?)

When we walked out of the room and were able to catch a glimpse of the rest of the ark, I have to admit, it looked a lot less eerie than before. Yeah, Yami was still on board and we both knew it, but there was something about the blue color of the runes that was much more comforting than when they were red.

Azumi ended up interrupting my thoughts when Ammy and I took a few steps into the main part of the ark. "Okami Amaterasu… Celia…" Don't you just love how special my name sounds compared to Ammy's? "It has begun at long last… the waves of darkness have finally begun to roll. All this evil power… I cannot hold on much longer! Amaterasu, there is one final thing I must tell you." Oh, fine. Go ahead and ignore me. See if I care. "The man of the Moon Tribe with the golden hair… I want you to tell him something."

Ammy sat down and tilted her head.

"The Celestials will never forget how he fought alongside you when Orochi attacked. We are forever grateful!" And with those last words, she disappeared.

"Don't worry. I will, Azumi." Ammy said, her voice so soft I barely heard it even with my wolf ears. In a louder voice, she said, "Come on, Celia. Let's go get some supplies from Marco. After all," She paused. "We're not going to need our yen anymore after this, are we?"

I returned her smile with a small grin and a laugh. "Yeah, you've got a point there." Maybe trying to be humorous in our situation wouldn't be most people's idea of how to act before fighting the Emperor of Eternal Darkness—fear, nervousness, or determination might be something more suited for the moment—but a positive attitude is important. (What? Surprised to hear this coming from the pessimistic, sarcasm-obsessed teen with no clue of her purpose in this entire adventure?) And, besides that, our team is well known for our skills of finding humor in every situation, after all. (That and arguing, but as long as Issun was absent, we were pretty much fine there.)

After giving up pretty much all our yen to Marco in return for a new weapon, the Tundra Beads, one last bag of gold dust, getting as many holy bones of every kind as our inventory would hold, (We are the cautious adventurers and proud of it!) enough inkfinity stones to bring our total to a whopping ninety-nine, twenty-one steel soul sakes for more safety, and seven steel fist sakes just for the heck of it, we stood before the beam of light that would transport us to the top of the ark, where Yami waited for us.

"Okami Amaterasu, Celia…" We both turned around to look at Marco, who had followed us to the central platform. "Just being able to see you… both… with my own eyes… I can't tell you how much joy it brings me. It pains me that I can't remain with you until the end. Now I must join the others, but I'll never forget you, Amaterasu, and how we used to play in the fields in our homeland. I pray that you will always shine bright, Amaterasu and Celia!"

Once he disappeared, Ammy and I shared one last glance before resolutely stepping forward into the light and into the final battle with the Emperor of Eternal Darkness.


	34. The Final Battle

This is it, guys! Not only is it the one year anniversary of OACA, but this is the final chapter as well! I hope you're all ready! 8D

Buuut first things first. Yesterday I decided to re-read the reviews for this. All 228 of 'em. And I have to say, I love all you guys so much. Honestly, I laughed, teared up, and remembered why I have the drive to write this story while I read them. One huge thank you to everyone who reviewed. You guys are the ones I keep writing for. Without you all, OACA would've just died in one of the early chapters. And now it's time for special thanks. Skip this part if you want to. It'll probably be boring anyways. XD  
><strong>Senom299 of the crazy authors<strong>- Sis, you were the one who first inspired me to write this. I can not stress enough how thankful I am to you for this. If ALBN never existed, neither would OACA. You were the first one to review this back when it was a piece of crap, and I was so excited when you weren't mad at me or anything for writing my own OCI. Your mega reviews with the ALBN cast always made me smile and I'm glad we've been friends for a full year now. The insane amounts of word wars we've had definitely sped up the process of this story, too. xD  
><strong>Pixelated Firefly<strong>- Yeah, don't think I've forgotten about you, Pixel. You were the one I talked to the most while I was in my 'high on writing' stage. You always gave me critiques and pounded a few good writing lessons into my head, so thank you for that. XD And to think, I might've never met you had I not decided to randomly check out the pikmin archive and read Abyss of Desire. We haven't talked since I kinda abandoned FFN for a while, but I'd really like to start talking to you again. I miss my lol-fighting partner.  
><strong>Triforcekitty<strong>- What can I say? You're an awesome friend and I'm glad you're part of the Shades of Insanity group. You and Senom are my main word warring buddies! :P (Oh, and by the way, tell Ushi I might still finish that crack pairing meme. I want to see his reaction. XD)  
><strong>TheManWithBacon<strong>- YOU ARE A MAN. AND YOU HAVE BACON. *shot* Okay, I'll quit being stupid. When I first read Steel in the Moonlight, I was amazed that an epic college student (Wait, you are in college, right? *derp*) writer had joined the Okami archive. When you started reading and reviewing OACA, I honestly couldn't believe it. You boosted up my self-esteem a lot. XD  
><strong>NeonGreenSheep<strong>- You, Sheepy, (Shut up. I don't know what else to call you. XD) are the only one who talks to me on fanfiction these days. XD Like a few other people on this list, when someone reviews this story and then I realize they're a much better author than me, my self-esteem goes through the roof. I'm really glad you managed to convince your parents to allow you to have an account on here _with this story._ It just amazes me every time I think about it.  
><strong>Mysticdragon21<strong>- Kairii. Kairii, Kairii, Kairii. ...Okay, I'll admit, I have no clue where I was going with that. XD Anyways, awesome friend, it's like you stalk all the fandoms I do, and you, along with a few others, always encourage me to write OACA... actually, it's more like you yell at me to put up the next chapter... or is that just my sister...? Well, you get the point. XD You've quickly become one of my best co-writing buddies alongside my sister, and considering it's _ninjago_ we're co-writing, I couldn't be happier at the moment. XD  
><strong>The Great Mikey Weston<strong>- Everything I said about Kairii. Yes, I am running out of things to say/saying the same things in a different way. I always looked up to you when I stalked the Mario archive, so when you reviewed my Four Swords one-shot, speaking to me like I was some amazing person, no less, mind=blown. And then you started mega reviewing OACA as well. What the crap were you thinking, woman? XD (Seriously, why mega review the chapters in the first plot arc? I've said it before and I'll say it again. THOSE THINGS ARE FAIL.) Anyways, co-writing buddy numero tres, I'm glad we like the same fandoms, (Although some I had to bribe you to get into... XD) and just don't cause _too __much_ chaos in ATCMP, alright? xD

Also, regarding OCCA, (Yes, the sequel will have the unoriginal title of Okami Chibiterasu and Celia's Adventure.) it'll probably be a while until it comes out. This summer is going to be totally wacky for me and I'm not sure of everything that's going on, so promises would be bad things to make right now. I'll need some time to go on a mega OCCA writing spree, and that'll probably happen when I'm at my dad's house for a month. (And, of course, I've lost track of when that will be. Derp.) Just to be safe, I'm going to say OCCA will start when school does. I just kinda need a break from Okami for a while, (At least, while I have control of the beautiful, beautiful internet.) considering my main obsession at the moment is ninjago. I've been worrying about OACA updates and such for a full year now and it'll just be nice to take a break from all that, y'know?

Anyways, there's still bonus chapters due, so start asking questions before I write the Q&A chapter!

Now that all _that_ boring stuff is over, it's time for the fun stuff! On with the story!

Disclaimer: ...wait, you thought I owned Okami? I laugh.

Chapter 31- The Final Battle

Ammy and I landed on the ground, trying to clear our heads from the fall, (Why we _fell_ is beyond me. After all, the light transported us _up_, not _down_.) The sound of swords clanging and grunts instantly brought my attention to what was happening in front of me. It took me a second to figure that it was Waka holding his katana and flutesaber, using all of his strength to attack… I actually couldn't tell at that point. It was so dark I couldn't make out what it was. After failing to charge at whatever he was attacking, Waka was pushed backwards and Pillowtalk went flying over the side of the ship. It was a shame. I actually kinda liked that Star Wars rip-off weapon, despite the fact of who it belonged to.

"There you are, Amaterasu and Celia." Waka said calmly once he regained his footing. He sounded pretty out of breath despite the tone of his voice. "I thought I could handle this before you arrived, but it seems I have met my match."

Ammy ran forward to stand next to the prophet and I followed. "You really thought you could do this by yourself?" I couldn't tell if she sounded annoyed or amused.

"He's Waka. What'd you expect?" I pointed out, raising an eyebrow at my friend.

She just rolled her eyes.

Waka chuckled slightly and gave Amaterasu a tiny smirk. "This brings back memories, ma cherie! Remember when we faced Orochi together on the Celestial Plain?"

Ammy closed her eyes for a few seconds and nodded. "I remember."

And I was excluded from the conversation.

Waka seemed to notice this and changed topics. "Behold… it is shrouded in darkness, but make no mistake. This is none other than Yami, the evil ruler of darkness." His tone was so serious I swear I almost questioned whether this was really Waka or not. "It was he who slew the Celestials on board this very ark and brought misfortune upon the land of mortals!"

As if in response to hearing his name, Yami made a strange sound that vaguely resembled a growl and began to move around slightly, a blue glow surrounding his body.

Waka stood normally for a few seconds and gave a tiny shrug, his arms spread out. "Of course, it's too dark to see his true form now." When the ark began to rumble, we all went back into our battle positions, eyes narrowed at the monster in front of us. "And so it begins…" Waka mused, then raised his voice. "The dreaded Day of Darkness is upon us!"

It had been said over and over by various people, but the reality of that phrase only seemed to hit home then, seconds before the moon kicked it into high gear and moved at an alarming rate across the sun, blocking out all the sunlight in a few seconds. The runes flickered almost like someone flipping the lights on and off a few times before the glow around Yami turned from blue to red and he finally made himself visible. You know how I said Ninetails' growl put Gekigami's to shame? Well, Ninetails didn't have crap on Yami.

Ammy let out her own growl and before I could turn my head to ask her what was wrong, a wave of… something rolled over me and I gasped in shock. It wasn't exactly pain, but it might as well been. It felt like there was a rapidly-growing hole in my body caused by something being ripped out of it and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Right before I collapsed on the ground, the thing was finally taken from me: A glowing orb with kanji on it, better known as the thirteen brush techniques.

I gasped for breath and tried to make sense of what was going on, the fact that I had just lost my most powerful- and pretty much only- way to attack. I can't even describe how powerless I felt at that moment, but like I said before, it was almost painful, physically and mentally. From beside me I could see Ammy in the exact same position I was: helpless and just an ordinary wolf. I wanted to touch her with my paw or something, try to give her a message that everything would be okay, but all my strength was sapped and even just lying there tired me out more than anything.

"Distorted time and space brings about this phenomenon." Waka, the only one still standing, stated. I had a feeling he kept his tone flat because he didn't want us to know what he was thinking. "This ill-fated day only occurs once every 100 years." He paused briefly, then sighed. "Nobody, not even the gods, has the power to stop it!"

Another massive roar shook the entire arena and I could only guess what was going on by the sounds, but when a flash of blinding yellow light headed straight towards me and Ammy, I closed my eyes tightly, afraid that everything was going to end.

"Still, I shall stand firm and fight this battle!" If I had the strength, I would've gasped at the sound of Waka's voice and the fact that I wasn't dead. The prophet was standing in front of us, using himself and his sword as a shield for Ammy and me. As he continued talking, the calmness and confidence, if not that, at least the ability to keep a poker face and flat tone in every situation, began to crumble and I could sense sorrow and regret in his voice. For the first time, I found myself actually feeling sympathetic towards him. "For it was I who brought the Ark of Yamato to the Celestial Plain, but I was oblivious to the evil that lurked in its depths. _I _caused the death of countless innocent Celestials and brought a curse upon the land of mortals! …However, I cannot reset my actions, nor undo the past!"

Yami's laser got stronger and stronger until I honestly thought we were all goners, but at the last second, the laser finally stopped. I let out a small gasp when Waka's helmet with white and red feathers fell to the ground in front of us, and the owner of the helmet landed a few feet away from us to our left.

"Amaterasu…" Waka trailed, almost seeming uncertain for a second before shaking his head slightly and continuing. "_Orochi can only be defeated with the power of the Chosen One._ That's what I told you, and you waited for me without question." Everything in my head just clicked in that instant, and I moved my head just enough to see Waka giving Ammy an apologetic look, and instead of being white and red, his hair was so blonde it looked almost golden. "You waited patiently in this land of mortals… you waited for the day that Nagi, the Chosen One, was born. You believed in me despite knowing that I count myself among the ranks of the accursed Moon Tribe who had escaped from the lunar realm. I was deeply moved by your earnest spirit. That is why my faith in you has not waned since that fateful day when we engaged Orochi in battle side by side." Waka's speech was interrupted by the terrifying sound of Yami charging up his laser again, but he continued nonetheless. "Amaterasu, Celia, you both must return to the Celestial Plain." He moved his right hand in front of him in a feeble attempt to defend himself from the attack we all knew was coming. "You must do so in order to bring peace to this world!" The second he finished talking, he was hit with the laser and was flung off the side of the arena.

Forcing myself to my feet, I watched alongside Ammy as his body disappeared into the blackness. Yami gave a small roar once more, as if challenging us. My friend and I exchanged glances, nodded determinedly, and let out a pair of synchronized growls so loud it's safe to say we pwnd all others.

Ammy ran up to the giant sphere, jumped up, and used wolf-fu, kicking Yami three times in a row before falling back to the ground. Yami fell back a few feet, looking almost stunned for a split second, and moved back to the center of the arena, hitting the ground and causing cracks to appear in the middle. He then moved to the side and pulled out a huge hammer, striking the area once more and creating a huge gaping hole.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but _for Waka!_" I yelled as I streaked past Ammy and tried my hand at wolf-fu. I managed to get in two hits before having to back off due to Yami going into destruction mode again, but as soon as he was vulnerable to being hit, Ammy ran up behind him and attacked, stunning him again. This time, a colorful orb flew out of Yami's body and flew straight into us, and I felt a bit of my strength returning. A glance over at Ammy made me grin as my suspicions were confirmed. We had our weapons, markings, and most importantly, one of our brush techniques back.

"We can use rejuvenation now." Ammy sounded pleased. "We just need to keep attacking him. Soon enough—"

"We'll have all the brush techniques back." I finished. Our confidence had officially been restored. Yeah, we had a long ways to go and this was dangerous, but now we had a chance. And that was all we needed.

As Yami advanced towards us, I used rejuvenation to fill in the gaping hole in the middle of the arena. Ammy did the same with one of the holes that had been made on the side, and we jumped back when Yami flew over to a different part of the arena to cause some more destruction. I hit him twice from a distance with the Galaxy Beads, which were equipped as my subweapon, and tried to attack with the Tundra Beads, the new weapon we had bought from Marco, but he had already begun moving to a different part of the arena and thus was invincible for a few seconds.

_Wow, he is really getting on my nerves,_ I narrowed my eyes and the enemy that just refused to be hit. Ammy went in to attack with her weapon while I fixed up the newly-made hole Yami had just created.

When Yami paused, I took the chance to attack with my subweapon again, but my eyes widened when he launched two rockets at us, one aimed at me and one at Ammy. We split up and dodged both, but the fact that we had missed a potential way of attack kinda hurt.

Ammy ran up to me after I finished filling up another hole. "We have to get powerslash as soon as we can." She told me.

I smirked and nodded. "Well then, let's get our second brush technique back." I charged right at Yami, a sudden boost of determination helping me, and whipped my weapon back and forth like a madwoman. Ammy joined in and we finally got back the next brush technique.

"Powerslash, how I've missed you!" I exclaimed. If brush techniques were real people, I would've hugged powerslash to death.

…no, the brush gods do not count.

I was about to get re-acquainted with our awesome power before Ammy stopped me. "Let's go in to attack while he's still stunned. It'll do more damage." She suggested.

"Your ideas never cease to amaze me." I commented as I ran after her and we whacked Yami a good few times before using powerslash to finish it off.

Yami jumped into the air and came down, hammer out and ready to squish all below it, but Ammy and I saw the attack coming and ran off to the right, evading it easily.

"That the best you've got, '_emperor of eternal darkness'?_" I taunted when we slightly stunned the monster. A second later a hand with a spinning blade swiped the area around us, and I have a feeling the only reason my godhood level worked was because I happened to be near the arm and nowhere near the blade. "Okay, okay! I'll keep the comments to myself! Sheesh!"

I spotted Ammy roll her eyes before attacking again, just doing enough damage to stun him once more. We did the same thing as last time, using our weapons to attack until we felt it was time to powerslash, and we were rewarded with yet another brush technique! Or, rather, _three_ brush techniques: greensprout.

"Same tactic as last time?" I asked as we ran towards the once again stunned Yami.

Ammy gave a small nod. "Yup."

So we totally cheated to get in a bit more damage to Yami before Ammy bloomed him, (How a wooden and mechanical sphere can be bloomed is beyond me…) causing the top half of the ball to split into quarters and peel apart kindasorta flower-like. If you squinted reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly hard and used a bit of imagination… okay, _a lot_ of imagination… This revealed Yami's true form, a seal fetus or a manatee baby or a black goldfish or something of that sort in a small bowl filled with water to pop up and allowed us to hit it. And hey, he may look pretty pathetic with his fishy appearance and red moustache-looking markings, but this was the creature that had a really powerful laser and wasn't afraid to fire it, as proven before, so I wasn't going to disrespect him any time soon.

I didn't even have time to jump up there before Ammy finished him off with two more hits and the sphere began glowing with blue flames, small sparks of electricity flowing around it. I wondered what was going on before there was a huge burst of red and black smoke in the arena and Yami once again floated around, the runes on the sphere now glowing green- not to mention in a different pattern- instead of red.

_Second stage. Fun times._ I thought to myself as I got into a battle position next to Ammy, preparing myself for whatever attack would come next.

That was when Yami's entire body burst into flames and I decided I really can't prepare myself for stuff like this.

The emperor of eternal darkness went from one side of the arena to the other, somehow always keeping me and Ammy in its path as it flew past. We managed to dodge the flames twice- he floated just a bit too high in some spots, which allowed us to stand safely- but we _were_ hit once. But the golden rule of Okami and godhood levels saved us- _Always use rosaries!-!-!_ And a rosary I used for this fight.

After three tries at trying to turn us into crispy critters, as Issun would put it, Yami floated just a bit closer to the ground. A bit more wolf-friendly distance. It was almost sad as Ammy and I just casually walked beside him and spammed him with attacks, but with the speed he was going at coupled with the fact that he wasn't doing anything, it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up! And besides, how else were we going to attack him in this stage when he was invincible while on fire? We were rewarded for our rather sad efforts with another brush technique. This time it was cherry bomb. Even though we rarely used it in battle, I felt like I wanted to glomp this technique, too. I guess the saying _"You don't know what you have until you lose it,"_ really is true.

We used the usual strategy, hit until right before Yami is no longer stunned, and upon the use of cherry bomb, the entire sphere just exploded into slices. Ah, logic-defying Nippon, you never cease to amaze me, even during final battles. Yami's core was on the third platform, which we easily jumped onto, and proceeded to attack. (As much as I would love to re-use the joke, "I whip my weapon back and forth," that's not exactly how it works with reflectors.) Once the platforms began moving and aligned themselves back into their regular form, Ammy and I jumped off to avoid being turned into wolf pancakes.

Try Wolf Pancakes! Now with little marshmallows! Part of a balanced breakfast for monsters!

Anyways, we were just _on fire_ getting our brush techniques, and next up was _waterspout._

Get it? Fire? And waterspout? Huh? Huh?

…Okay, like I said before, I suck at making bad puns. Don't blame me. I just wasn't born with the gift.

As soon as Yami lit himself on fire like the apparent daredevil he is, (Or maybe he's just a masochist… the world may never know which.) Ammy and I both used the random spouts of water around the arena to put out the flames at the same time and once again stun Yami. Of course, just because we got a brush technique that made the fight ten times easier, the next time we cherry bombed him, the core was _all the way on the highest platform._ Yeah, we got a grand total of two hits on him before falling back to the ground. It was a pretty sad moment.

Which is why we were both thoroughly shocked when we ended up getting crescent a few seconds later.

"I'm not exactly sure what good this'll do…" I trailed uncertainly, but decided to use the brush technique anyways. And then a 10-foot-tall Nagi jumped into the arena from absolutely nowhere and cut Yami in half with his sword. No, I don't know exactly what happened there. But honestly, that was perfectly fine with me.

At this point I no longer wanted to hug powerslash and cherry bomb. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with crescent, because _how can a brush technique that makes the moon show up be so dang epic?-!_

We were left with two halves of the huge sphere and one spazzing Yami lying helpless on the ground. And I'm not kidding when I say he was spazzing. He was flailing his fins so fast it looked like he was a baby bird trying to fly or something. It would've been almost kinda cute if, y'know, he wasn't the emperor of eternal darkness and all…

As soon as Yami recovered and was back to normal, Ammy once again used crescent. I was about to ask her why before Nagi once again showed up and cut Yami in half.

If I had a ring on my person and I was in human form, I would've proposed to that brush technique right then and there.

We had ourselves another repeat of the blue fire, electric sparks, and red and black smoke before Yami floated at a height that certainly was not wolf-friendly anymore, blue markings replacing the red ones. When the sphere opened up and turned into a freaking slot machine, I just couldn't help but comment.

"Oh, what. We're in Las Vegas now?" I raised an eyebrow at the contraption, tilting my head slightly and giving Yami an "orly" look. While I was occupied with trying to make the emperor of eternal darkness feel stupid about himself, Ammy used powerslash to make the slots all stop.

"Oh hey, do we get a prize?" I asked in mock excitement when I noticed the three symbols were the same. Ammy just rolled her eyes and pulled out one of our 99 inkfinity stones, and thus the chaos of the flaming fruits commenced. AKA a bunch of stuff being launched at Ammy and me within the span of a few seconds. We managed to send most of them back at Yami, although there were a few that we had to just run from.

And turns out it actually kinda _was_ a prize, because when you get that one symbol we got, you get flaming fruit. When you get flaming fruit, you get one of the easiest, most plentiful, and most powerful weapons against Yami's third form. When you get one of the easiest, most plentiful, and most powerful weapons against Yami's third form three times, you get the opportunity to do a crapton of damage to him. When you get the opportunity to do a crapton of damage to him, you usually end up_ doing_ a crapton of damage to him. When you end up doing a crapton of damage to him, his health bar goes down. A lot. And when his health bar goes down a lot, you get three free brush techniques in a row. Get three free brush techniques in a row. And switch to Direct TV just for the heck of it.

Although, just a fair warning to you, once you get galestorm back, the game takes you for an idiot and thinks you forget that wind blows away fire, so it throws some fire your way. That's rather demeaning towards gamers and goddesses everywhere. Heck, that's just demeaning to people in general, because I'm pretty sure logic would already tell you that.

And please don't get me started on getting inferno. Fire melts ice is a lesson you should learn in pre-school, not from a T-rated game.

At least nothing happened after getting veil of mist. This made me a very happy camper.

"Celia!" Ammy called from the other side of the arena. Yes, we split up for some odd reason. Even I don't know why, to be honest. "Use veil of mist to make sure you hit the Yami symbols!"

I nodded, and if I was human, I probably would've saluted just for the heck of it. "Yes, ma'am!" I focused my attention back on the slot machine Yami and narrowed my eyes as I used the brush technique to slow down time. I'll admit, the Himiko ghost kinda startled me, but she gave us four spirit globes, so I wasn't going to complain. Using the cliché power of teamwork, Ammy and I managed to make all three of the symbols the ones that gave us a few seconds to spam Yami with powerslashes at will. Or, at least, that's what they were _supposed_ to do. It turns out when you get all three, the slot machine just breaks down and you're free to whip your weapon back and forth to your heart's content, given you're using a rosary. If not, then just use boring old attacks.

Ammy and I backed up as Yami began to transform into his forth form. Doing a bit of simple math, I figured this was the last stage of the fight. Thirteen brush techniques in all / three brush techniques per stage = 4 stages, possibly five, but I doubted it.

"You ready for this?" I asked Ammy, a confident smirk on my face. I just couldn't help it. Luck had been on our side almost this entire fight. How else was I supposed to feel?

My friend smiled back and questioned, "Are _you?_"

"I was born ready!" I growled and put my attention back on the enemy in the middle of the arena…

…and saw a huge sphere with yellow markings, two feet, and yellow noodle arms that looked to be made out of electricity, or had electricity running through them at the very least.

"…I take that back. I take it all back."

We both ran to the left when Yami jumped into the air and floated towards us, spewing out bullets below him as he went along. I stared wide-eyed at him in disbelief. Overkill much?

"I'll be the distraction. You hit him when he's open for attack." Ammy told me.

I turned to look at her and my jaw nearly dropped. "What?-! No! I'm always the—"

"Jump!" My friend yelled suddenly and I obeyed, leaping over a beam of lightning and powerslashing a couple of rockets while we were in the air.

"—one who does that!" I finished my sentence.

"Exactly!" Ammy gave me a serious look. "You still have to remember who we're going up against. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Yeah, but you're a—" I paused to push her out of the way of another line of bullets. "Goddess! I think you beat me in terms of importance!"

The look Ammy gave me almost made me take a couple steps back. "We are _not_ having this discussion." Her tone made her sound more like my mom than my friend. "I'll distract it, you counterattack it. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." I grumbled and ran off to a different part of the arena. Noticing Yami was still open to attack, I powerslashed and stunned him. I instantly dashed towards him, using veil of mist to buy me some more time, and attacked the core until the entire sphere flipped away from me. I backed up in shock, but grinned when it rolled forward and a small hole opened up, allowing another brush technique to escape.

"Celia!" Ammy called. "Use catwalk to get to the top of a tower and counterattack from there! I'll attack from down here!"

_Why are you just now concerned about my safety so much?-!_ I thought in annoyance, but decided not to argue this time and followed my friend's advice, or rather, orders, and used a catwalk statue to get to the top of one of the towers where it was relatively safe, at least compared to the arena. I even grabbed an inkfinity stone from a treasure chest while I was up there.

I know I shouldn't say this, but the battle was dull, I'd even go as far to call it _boring_, from my point of view. I mean, if I was down there with Ammy, at least I'd still have a chance to avoid bullets and whip-like arms. Where I was, the only thing that could be even closely considered dodging was sidestepping the occasional laser that wasn't even aimed at me. My fun job was to powerslash rockets and Yami's core just so Ammy didn't have to worry about it herself. _Maybe my title of 'the reckless one' suits me more than I realized at first,_ I thought boredly as Ammy just kept retrieving more and more brush techniques. _Even though I have a tendency to get my butt kicked 50% of the time… being in danger is so much more fun than _this _crappy job. And Ammy shouldn't have to be risking her hide out there, anyways. If anyone else can, they should be flinging themselves in front of lasers. And I'm the only one here who can do that._ I laid down and rested my head on my paws. _I don't understand why Ammy's so concerned about my safety now… I'm just a normal kid. There's absolutely no real harm that can come from my death. Her, on the other hand…_ I sighed in irritation and stood up, practically bouncing around. I just couldn't stand still while this was going on in front of my face…

I made a split-second decision, jumping off the tower and running up to Ammy's side as she attacked Yami's core, frozen via blizzard.

"Celia?-!" She stared at me for a second in shock.

"Hellooow~" I tried to pull off an impression of mine turtle, and I was half-tempted to make a random cherry bomb for the heck of it.

My friend frowned, but kept her attention on attacking Yami. "I thought I told you to stay back!"

"And let you have all the fun?" I raised an eyebrow as I joined in. "I thought you knew me better than that!"

The goddess sighed, but smiled weakly. "I guess he's almost down, so—" She was cut off by Yami standing up, falling to the ground, standing up _again_, and then falling to the ground _again_.

Yami apparently just loves over-dramatic deaths.

"Heh heh! Not bad, Furball, Fluffy!" My eyes widened in shock when I saw Issun bouncing on my nose. One glance at Ammy told me she was seeing the exact same thing. "Well, you both know the drill! Let's have one of those famous howls of yours!"

Ammy and I both complied, getting ready to howl, but we paused as Issun disappeared and looked around blankly. I suddenly felt lost, and I had a feeling Ammy felt the same way. We shared glances before howling, but the tone wasn't happy like normal. It was sad, confused, lost.

Out of nowhere, a sharp pain flew throughout my entire body, causing me to yelp loudly. Yami somehow wasn't dead, and he grabbed both me and Ammy with his noodle arms, electrocuting both of us as he waved us around like ragdolls. Those few seconds were pure torture, I just wanted to die then and there, and when we were slammed into the ground, all of our power we had fought so hard to gain once and retrieve from Yami once again painfully ripped out of us. The entire area once again went dark, save for the runes glowing in a pulsing pattern, and Yami revealed his fifth form, a black hand with red glowing runes that looked like it really wouldn't hesitate to just squish us then and there.

When I saw Ammy weakly stand up, I forced myself to do the same, although I was more just lying down with my head lifted a few inches. Every part of my body ached and stung, and if ever there was a time where I was completely and utterly miserable, that was it.

"Bah… Furball and Fluffy're always spacing out like that. Ammy and Silver can't do anything without my help!"

My eyes widened in surprise and I tried to lift my head just a little higher, my ears perked up in interest to hear what was going on. How was it possible that I could hear Issun…?

"Are those doggies crying somewhere, sis?" A young girl's voice spoke up. Camelia. "Is that why the sunshine has disappeared?"

"I haven't seen the doggies for a while now…" Her older sister, Camille, trailed. "Did my saying there's no such thing as gods cause all this?"

I recognized Mushi speaking next. "Snowy, the hole-digging king… I never dreamt that you were a god! You're gonna make Hayabusa a nervous wreck if you don't get that sun shining again soon."

I could've sworn I saw Princess Fuse floating off to our right. "Amaterasu, Celia… thanks to you both, we can protect our village by ourselves, but you must be strong and triumph over evil, for the canine warriors so dearly wish to see you once more!"

"Hmm… those gods sure were burning with passion." Tama commented as he appeared to the left, sitting cross-legged in the air and smoking his pipe as usual. "I dunno what happened, but if those mongrels don't come out of hiding, I'll have to send up a really big one to reignite that passion."

The image of Tama faded and Mr. Bamboo was suddenly in front of us. "Ho! So those wolves were really gods? Perhaps I should have made an offering of my bamboo ware. It may be my fault that the sun has ceased to shine."

I couldn't figure out who the voices belonged to anymore; the pain of the shock was still there and agonizingly stung in random places. I could only listen to the words, trying to focus on them and drown out the pain with them.

"Who would have ever thought that one of those rascals was really Shrianui reborn?"

"My, my. How those two loved my cherry cakes! Could this darkness be caused by hunger?"

"…chirp."

"Uh-oh!"

"The boss is… praying!"

"Snowy… Celia… did something happen to you? Why has the sun suddenly disappeared?"

"Fido and lassie won't roll over and play dead for evil! No brothers of mine would ever dream of it! Ha ha ha!"

"Something in your brushwork touches the heart, Issun. You never abandoned your life as an artist after all. When one tries to master something, it ends in either success or failure, but it is in the attempt itself where you find the true value. Believe in your own power and walk your own path."

"Issun… I see you have finally heeded your calling. Your resolve is plain to see in your drawing. It has the power to move people's hearts in the gods! Amaterasu, Celia, their faith shall be your power!"

"Ha ha ha! He did it! My grandson did it! Look at the spirit behind this beautiful brushwork! He truly deserves the title of Celestial Envoy! It's work like this that can show people the true glory of the gods and guide people to the right path. There's one thing I'm sure of, Amaterasu. Celia, too. You've found a much better companion than I could ever be!"

"Okay, everyone! I know it's kinda hard to see in this darkness, but get a load of my latest work! Issun the wandering artist presents his interpretation of the great god Amaterasu and her sidekick, Celia! Can you hear me, you two? You're not floundering about without me, are ya? You've gotta pull yourselves together! I finally chose my path and I have the resolve to see it through! I've started to roam the land as your missionary, Ammy! But you gotta take care of things on your end, too! Don't look so sad. Just psyche yourselves up like we always did, remember?"

The corners of my mouth twitched into a small grin.

"Oops, I almost forgot. Check these out, everyone! It's the great god Amaterasu descending from the heavens! Pretty good, huh? Ammy was smiling down from the sky just a little while ago. Something musta disturbed the furball's concentration, though. That's why the world has gone dark. Without Ammy, we can't take a refreshing nap outdoors. Rice won't grow. Plants and flowers will wither. Laundry won't dry. Monsters will roam about like they own the place. In other words, our world will be a total mess! No one wants to live in a world like that! Especially me!

"S c'mon, everybody! Let's join together to call upon the great god. Let's show Ammy that we truly believe! Put your hands together and pray. Let's make our gratitude obvious! I mean, we shouldn't pray only when we want something. We should consider how the gods must feel once in a while. We should even take on some of their burden. If you pray with all your heart, maybe the sun will cheer up and show itself once again, lighting our world with its heavenly glow! After all, the best thing about the great god Amaterasu and her friend Celia are those happy-go-lucky spirits! Right, you two? Answer if you can hear me, ya big furballs!"

_Loud and clear, Issun,_ I thought as I watched hundreds of colorful orbs float around us. _Loud and clear._

The orbs began to fly into both of us, causing a small burst of light to appear every time. More and more orbs kept coming until we were completely enveloped in white…

…and when I could finally see Ammy again, she looked exactly like Shiranui did when we met her in the Wawku Shrine. Special divine markings, tendrils of light, awesome weapon and all. My friend smiled at me, and I didn't need to look at myself to realize I probably looked as awesome as her. Well, maybe nix the tendrils of light.

As the sun finally revealed itself from behind the clouds, we both howled at the same time, completely confident now. Yami was going down, and everyone in the arena knew it, including himself.

In a desperate attempt to make us powerless, the hand made a thumbs down and the entire arena went dark once more, but in a few seconds Ammy used sunrise, stunning Yami. The hand dropped the core, which was supposed to be in its palm, and landed limply on the ground next to it. With two psyched up, powerful, optimistic wolves working together, the final fight was over before Yami even had a chance to recover. The monster flailed around in pain and defeat for a few moments before being surrounded in black smoke and red kanji, and then it imploded, never to be seen again.

I shared a glance with Ammy, commenting, "Well, we know the drill."

We both shared a laugh before sharing one last victory howl together.

From behind us, the sound of clapping could be heard, and when we turned, there was Waka in all his outrageously long haired glory, sitting in a high tech ufo-looking thing with a bunch of holographic screens that basically had a crapton of gibberish on them.

"Fantastique, Amaterasu and Celia!" Waka complimented, a smile on his face. "What a long and winding road it's been, eh, ma cherie, mon etoile? But at last our arch nemesis Yami, the dark lord who brought darkness upon the land of mortals, has been annihilated for all eternity." He paused and looked away, looking a little reluctant to say the next part. "I must say, I was really surprised by your little bouncing friend. You couldn't have done it without him."

Ammy double jumped onto the contraption with Waka and I followed, arriving just in time to see the goddess glomp Waka.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! That tickles!" He laughed, weakly trying to push her away. "Down! Heel! You're going to lick me to death!" He finally pushed her down- or, more likely, she just did what he said- and turned around, his arms crossed. I put my front paws up on the dashboard like Ammy, grinning broadly. I couldn't believe it. It was over. We finally won. The concept was almost impossible to grasp.

"Well, Amaterasu!" I glanced over at the prophet, just to see what he had to say. "Time to embark to even stormier seas! Making the world a better place is never easy! You must return to the Celestial Plain and set things in order. Only then can you usher in a new age of peace in the moral world. Our journey is far from over, ma cherie!" He typed up some stuff on the keyboard and we could see all of Nippon instead of just darkness. "Now, full speed ahead!" Waka shouted, making a pose as per usual. "First stop, the Celestial Plain!" Sails suddenly appeared on the masts of the ark and I suddenly felt us moving. It was almost like being in an airplane, except we could see everything.

"The path to heaven, eh?" The voice coming from down below make me freeze for a second before looking down towards Kamiki Village. There, above Konahana, was Issun, bouncing up on Sakuya's head.

Blame logic-defying Nippon for me being able to see that far down.

"Heh heh heh heh! Kinda sounds like fun!" I rolled my eyes. Only Issun. "You remember what I said the first time I met you two? _'There's no stoppin' me once I've made a decision!'_" I mouthed the words as he spoke them just for the heck of it. "So I'm goin', Furball! And there's no way you're gonna stop me! I'm gonna pull out all the stops and inspire people's faith in you! You're gonna have more believers than you know what to do with! You'll see! Until then, take care of yourself, ya big furball! And you too, Fluffy!"

"Same to you, bug boy." I responded softly.

Ammy, Waka, and I all shared glances as an island came into view. The Celestial Plain.

It was finally over.

The Celestial Plains looked a lot different than I suspected. AKA like pretty much any other area with a cursed zone in Okami. Then again, I guess I should've seen it coming. Waka _did_ say something about the place not being as great as it used to.

"Follow me, _ma cherie, mon etoile._" Waka said simply, walking to an open area, a guardian sapling sprout in hand.

Ammy and I followed directions, but I raised an eyebrow. "Where'd you get that?" I questioned, sniffing the sprout.

Waka just chuckled. "That is not your concern."

"Of course. Typical prophet." I huffed and slowed down a bit to walk alongside Ammy.

When Waka stopped walking, we did the same and sat on the ground, watching him as he kneeled down and got to work on getting the sprout planted. No, we didn't offer to help in any way. We're just trolls like that.

Waka stood up, a pleased expression on his face. "I assume you both know what to do."

"You know what they say about assumptions." I commented, making a face at him before sharing glances with Ammy. She nodded, then we used bloom on the sprout, sat back, and watched the magic happen.

The divine intervention that took place... there are just no words to describe it. It was like the awesome prettiness of all the previous ones rolled into one and multiplied by infinity. Squared.

And I'm pretty sure that was an understatement.

So yeah, I was completely hypnotized by the prettiness long after everything was over. The only thing that finally brought me back to my senses was someone poking my shoulder.

And, as if I hadn't had enough surprises for the day, there stood Ammy, human form and all. She had long white hair that nearly touched the ground, her eyes were a golden color, she wore a long white and red kimono, and she had markings that resembled her divine markings in her wolf form, not to mention she had wolf ears and a wolf tail.

...Okay, honestly, I think by now it should come as no shock to you all that my descriptions are still horrible as ever.

"You're... human...?" I raised an eyebrow at my friend. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting this."

Ammy smiled as she laughed softly. "Honestly, neither was I."

An impatient cough from Waka got both our attentions.

"There is still work to do here, _ma cherie._" He reminded, tapping his flute against his chin. He then turned his gaze to me. "There is also the matter of what we're going to do with _you._"

I just crossed my arms. "Well?"

Ammy stepped away from me to stand side-by-side with Waka. They both exchanged looks for a few seconds before I was addressed.

"_Mon etoile,_ you have two choices." The prophet told me bluntly. "You can stay here with us, help us to restore the Celestial Plain to its former glory, and train to improve your powers..."

"Or you can go back to where you came from." Ammy finished. She gave me a tiny, sad smile. "It's your choice."

I was kinda surprised. I mean, how many offers to stay in Nippon was I gonna get?-! Jeez...

But still, as tempting as the offer was, I had to remember why I had turned down the last one. It just wouldn't be right for me to disappear without a word and never come back if I could do something about it. My conscience would never leave me alone.

I just stepped forward and gave my friend a hug. "I'll always remember you, and everyone else we met on our adventure."

"I have no doubts about that." Ammy hugged me back for a few seconds before letting go.

In that short timeframe, Waka had gotten into the ufo-thing, which apparently could detach from the ark and just fly around on its own. He just crossed his arms, waiting for me.

"Goodbye, Celia." Ammy said softly.

"See ya later, Ammy." I gave her an optimistic wave before jumping into the ship with Waka. He looked at me, I responded with a small nod, and we were off.

(Time Skip: Wow. How anti-climactic.)

As soon as we arrived at my house, I jumped out of the ship and onto my deck before turning back to face Waka. There were a few things that needed to be clarified before I marched into my house.

"How long have I been gone?"

"It will seem to everyone else as though you never left." He answered simply.

"Will I still be able to use my celestial brush here?"

"You will have to figure the answer to that yourself."

I took a breath. "...Will I ever come back?"

Waka took a few seconds to reply. "That entirely depends on you; if you would not like to, then you will not. However, if you _do_ want to return..." He gave me one of his signature annoying smirks. "It just might happen."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, but nodded. "Fair enough."

There was a brief silence.

"Hey, Waka..." I started, slightly uncertain. "...thank you for saving Ammy and me back there. Maybe you're not as bad as I thought."

Waka just chuckled and smiled. "_Au revoir, mon etoile._"

And then he was gone.

"...freaking half-bake." I said to myself, laughing softly as I opened the front door and went inside. The place was exactly how I'd left it. Mattress in the middle of the living room, games and wii remotes hanging around in random places, and the tv was turned on. I raised an eyebrow as I took a few steps closer and sat down on the mattress. It looked like credits were playing, and it only took me a second to figure out it was okami. Yeah, that admittedly didn't make sense, considering I was playing the wii version.

"Kanashimi no risetto shite~" The final line of the song played as I just quietly watched the tv to see what was going to happen next. After all, I really only made it through one third of the game. I was interested to see the ending.

The picture on screen closed up like a scroll and was replaced by an area that resembled a cluttered desk. The screen faded to near-black (The desk was still barely visible.) and then there was the appearance of random dialogue!

As I read the words, my mind quickly imagined them in Issun's tone. It was so realistic it almost seemed like he was bouncing right in front of me, reading out what appeared on the screen.

_And that concludes this most secret of tales. Well, then. I'd say that's enough storytelling for today. This story contains the hopes and dreams of many fine people. Keep it close to your heart and cherish it. What's that? You want to know why I alone know this tale that no one knows? You listened to the whole story and never figured it out? You missed the whole point! Geez... What's wrong with you?_

I snorted. _Typical._

_I suppose I'll have to tell the whole story all over again... You'd best learn to show my brush the respect it deserves! ...Anyway, I'm tired. Let's call it a day. If you're eager to hear more, I can tell you the rest of the story some other time. Until then, do the best to live up to the heroes I told you about. It's time to roll this scroll up and give it a title. Okami Amaterasu's Adventure. Come back again, okay? Until next time..._

I couldn't help but smirk as I heard one last, short song play. "_Okami Amaterasu _and Celia's_ Adventure..._ not bad."

When the title screen appeared once more in all of its title screen-ish glory, I just took a minute to think about all the things we'd done, all the people we'd met, and the realization that we had finally brought Nippon peace.

Then I fell over onto my pillow and promptly fell to sleep.

_Celia's adventures with Amaterasu and Issun in Nippon had finally come to an end. After defeating the emperor of eternal darkness, Yami, there was nothing left for her to do but go home and return to her normal life._

_However, even as she tried to convince herself it was all over, there were still things that had been left unaddressed. Why was she important enough for Waka to bring into Nippon in the first place? How did she have the natural ability to learn the brush techniques like Amaterasu? What had the brush gods meant when they continually referred to her as _descendant of the sun and moon? _And, most importantly, what about Lady Kagami?_

_Still, she could rest easy now that the first storm had passed. At least, until a little birdy informed her of a game that was soon to come out. She understood Waka's answer to her earlier question and now all that stood between her and a return to Nippon was a nine month long wait that came in the form of a game called Okamiden._


	35. Blooper time

Hey, guys! Long time no see, huh? Unfortunately, procrastination struck, as well as the unfortunate fact that the cutscenes in Okamiden move way too fast for me to copy down, and I've been too lazy to go onto youtube and copy everything down while I've had access to the internet. Lame excuses aside, I figured you all deserve _something_ from me after my being a complete ghost in the Okami archive, so here, have some OACA bloopers. (Keep in mind that I really didn't get that far with these. Whenever I sat down to write them, I could only make one or two at a time before giving up. But seriously, have you guys tried reading this entire fanfiction in one go? [While adding derpy scenes in, nonetheless.] One does not simply complete an OACA-athon within one day.)

Well, that being said, enjoy the small amount of outtakes I managed to write up.

OACA bloopers~

Chapter 1~

"Am I invisible here?!" I muttered.

"Yes." Everyone present chorused.

"…I hate you all."

* * *

><p>"Well, whaddya think? Even cuter than the real thing, no?"<p>

"No." I said, just to see what would happen.

_The entire fanfiction was then canceled. It was between that and forcing Amaterasu to drag a corpse around with her. What'd you expect?_

* * *

><p>"O, great god Amaterasu…" Sakuya said, glowing pink. "I've used almost all the power I have to protect Kamiki Village. The village lives on. Their spirits lie encased in my fruit."<p>

"Wow," I interrupted with a frown. "They must be pretty cramped, huh?"

The wood sprite promptly facepalmed.

* * *

><p>I exchanged glances with Amaterasu.<p>

"Come on." She said simply, and walked into a portal at the base of the tree.

"Well, here goes nothing." I ran into the portal after my partner.

-ten seconds later-

"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW WE ENDED UP IN APERTURE LABORATORIES?-!"

* * *

><p>"It's not my fault the world is ending." I replied, running farther away from my companions.<p>

Out of nowhere, the author ran in, loudly singing, "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT~"

"Alright, who let her on set?-!"

* * *

><p>"Whoa, whoa, hold on there, Furball! Get a load of that! That chest looks mighty tempting."<p>

"Pervert."

The sound of the facepalm that resulted was much louder than I thought possible for a poncle.

* * *

><p>"O-okay…" I took a deep breath, then jumped. MY claws dug into the rocky wall and before I knew what had happened I was at the top.<p>

And once again, the author stormed on set. "Yeah, guys! _Her_ claws! Not anyone else's!"

"Are you going to run on set and point out any typos made now?" Celia snapped, glaring at Desi.

The other girl just grinned broadly. "Yes. Yes, I am."

Celia sighed through her double facepalm. "I figured as much."

* * *

><p>"So, how do we open the chest?" Ammy ran into it and the top flipped over. A small bone came out. "…Someone please explain how a chest has bones."<p>

"Pfffffffffffffft." Issun fell off Ammy's head.

"ISSUN. CAN YOU KEEP YOUR MIND CLEAN FOR MORE THAN FIVE SECONDS?" I spazzed.

* * *

><p>"But wow! Look at the stars twinkle!" I looked up and saw four starts in a pattern. "I haven't seen such a beautiful nighttime sky in ages. Hey…are those stars forming a constellation, or is it just me?" He was quiet for a minute while staring at the sky.<p>

I looked up and scanned the sky. "…Nope, it's just you."

There was a brief awkward silence before we walked back down to the River of Heavens to figure out what the heck to do next.

* * *

><p>"There's no stoppin' me once I've made a decision! But enough about me! Now that you've mastered the powerslash technique, you can cut down that thing Sakuya was talking about."<p>

"I believe it's called a fruit, Issun."

"I believe your face is called a fruit." He shot back.

"I believe your mom is called a bug."

"Buuuuurn." Ammy commented.

"I win."

* * *

><p>Once we were outside, I saw a blinking red arrow in front of me. I looked at it skeptically.<p>

"That better just be instinct…"

Out of nowhere, the arrow jumped up while growing arms, legs, and a face. It grabbed a random hat and cane and started dancing to music while Ammy, Issun, and I just stared.

"That's it. The author has gone mad." I decided under my breath.

* * *

><p>Chapter 2~<p>

"Okay, whaddya think you're doing?"

"I don't know." I replied. "What, I can't tackle a statue?"

The world exploded.

"And that's why you never tackle a statue." Issun deadpanned.

"Dully noted."

* * *

><p>"Let's go to higher ground so we can take a look!" The arrow appeared once more, this time wearing a clown suit while it somehow juggled about fifty multi-colored balls.<p>

I then proceeded to bash my head against the nearest rock. "Someone just kill me now."

* * *

><p>"What about me?" I whimpered. Wait, why'd I whimper?...um, random mood swing? Yeah, let's go with that…<p>

"ACTUALLY, IT'S A FAILED ATTEMPT AT IMPLYING THE LATER PAIRING." The author announced, marching up behind us.

"I thought I told you to stay off the set!" I growled at the moron.

_(The next few minutes are too violent for the rating of this story. We're sorry for the inconvenience. Have a nice day!)_

* * *

><p>"I'll work with Silver." He grumbled.<p>

"And I'll try to tolerate Issun." I said in the same excited tone.

I heard someone backstage whisper, "And then develop a crush on him~"

"DESI. DO WE NEED TO REPEAT WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME?"

"I was being quiet!"

"You were stage whispering and you know it!"

The author walked out into sight, grinned, and promptly started singing, "I stage whisper and I know it~"

_(The next few minutes are too violent for the rating of this story. Again. Excuse the idiotic author and easily aggravated OC. They don't make the best duo.)_

* * *

><p>"Issun! Are you and the wolf together?" Kushi asked.<p>

The synchronized, "NO." was so loud, it could've been heard from atop the sacred deck.

* * *

><p>"Dumb wolves…" She muttered.<p>

"Thanks for the compliment!" I barked sarcastically, but I knew she wouldn't understand.

"You're welcome!"

If you listened closely, there was a record scratch somewhere in the distance.

* * *

><p>Take 1-<p>

Ammy and I ran up the path to find a giant boulder blocking the way and a statue of a fat dude trying to move it. Yeah, like that rock was going to actually be moved any time soon, much less by someone who didn't get the memo that the sun was finally out.

"Heave! Heave! This is weird! My mind really wants to shift this rock, but my body won't cooperate. It's like I'm made of lead!"

Ammy and I shared glances and a brief awkward silence commenced before I finally said, "I'm not sure what to comment on: the fact that the statue just talked or the _iron_y of that sentence."

Ba dum crash~

* * *

><p>Take 2-<p>

Ammy and I ran up the path to find a giant boulder blocking the way and a fat dude trying to move it. Yeah, like that rock was going to actually be moved any time soon.

"Heave! Heave! This is weird! My mind really wants to shift this rock, but my body won't cooperate. It's like I'm made of lead!"

SUDDENLY IMPS. IN CHRISTMAS COLORS.

The author barged in at that moment. "No, no, no!" She interrupted the scene. (The imps seemed thoroughly confused by the turn of events, which was actually a pretty comical sight.) "It doesn't matter _how_ funny that line is, we're _not_ ripping off Okami: Abridged now! Alright, people! Let's take it from the top!" She announced, walking off the stage with an annoyed frown on her face.

* * *

><p>Take 3-<p>

"Waitaminute!" Issun yelled. "I thought Take wasn't coming in until chapter 12!"

Everyone present promptly facepalmed, including Ammy and me. (We both broke our legs in the process and had to go to the vet, but in situations that plain _stupid_, you just can't help but facepalm.)

* * *

><p>"Hey, you two suddenly started glowing!" Issun shouted in our ears like we had hearing problems or something. At this rate, we would. "That means your divine attributes can be enhanced!"<p>

"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow. "I was getting the impression it meant glowing is apparently contagious."

I'm pretty sure Issun was the one to facepalm this time.

* * *

><p>"Here, I'll show you what I mean. Let's try enhancing your divine attributes! You can enhance any attribute you want! Solar energy, ink, astral pouch, or purse."<p>

I looked at Ammy. "Ink?"

"Ink." She nodded.

"Ink it is, then." I suddenly felt slightly more powerful.

…That was anticlimactic.

* * *

><p>"Ah…I feel as light as a feather now!" The statue said.<p>

"Can _someone_ please replace the statue with the real merchant?" I groaned in annoyance. "It was funny the first time, but now it's just getting ridiculous."

* * *

><p>"If anyone can do something about this rock, it's him."<p>

"Then it seems like the boulder is here to stay." Issun said. "But seriously, that's strange. This boulder wasn't here before…"

Cue the hopefully instinct-made arrow! This time wearing a speedo while the song "I'm Sexy and I Know It" played!

No one present will ever be able to un-see the horror.

* * *

><p>"Get a load of this guy." Issun said. "All brain and no brawns."<p>

There was a brief pause.

"Wait…"

"Issun, be honest. Did you read the script?" I deadpanned.

"Nope!"

"…I figured as much."

* * *

><p>I swear, I saw a light bulb appear above my head… and promptly fall, crashing onto my head. There were a few stars in my vision before I went unconscious.<p>

* * *

><p>Chapter 3~<p>

"Prepare to taste the wrath of my trusty blade, Tohenboku!"

Little did Susano realize he had left his sword back at his house. Whoops.

* * *

><p>"It's the sad truth." Wait, Ammy was joining in one of Issun and my arguments? Hurry, get a video camera! Post it on youtube!<p>

…oh, wait. Okami takes place in ancient Japan, doesn't it? Darn. I'd have to settle for fanfiction when I got back.

"Hey, guys!" The author stage whispered from the side. "Spoilers~"

"ALRIGHT, MORON. GET OVER HERE."

_(More censored violence. Sorry. Again. Really, the stupid author angry OC thing just doesn't work.)_

* * *

><p>"He shouldn't get all puffed up. He's nothing without us." Issun commented. "Think he'll be okay?" The monsters outside the village are nasty."<p>

"He'll be fine." I said. "People that cocky just never seem to die."

"True that."

"Like you, Issun!"

"Tr—HEY, YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

"Make me~"

"Why I oughtta-!"

"…I have a feeling this is a bad time, isn't it?" Sakuya, who had just arrived on scene, deadpanned.

* * *

><p>"I hardly think your participation had any impact, little bug." She wasn't amused.<p>

"It's Issun! Issun, Issun, Issun! Stop calling me a bug!" His aura was red. "I'll crawl back into your kimono if you say that again!"

"So you _do_ admit to being a bug!" I yelled, pointing at him with a paw.

He took a second to process this. "…DANGIT."

* * *

><p>"Great and powerful Amaterasu and Celia! Could I be so bold as to request your assistance in rejuvenating these guardian saplings by lifting the curse that enslaves them?"<p>

"No."

An awkward silence ensued.

"…Y'see, this is why we read our scripts."

"Oh shut up."

* * *

><p>"Bah…I'm always itchin' for a good fight, but…I sure don't wanna poke my nose into this mess!" I heard Issun talking to himself.<p>

"Bugs don't even have noses." I pointed out dully.

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-" I wish I could've seen Issun's expression right then, if only to watch him attempting an internet meme.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4~<p>

"That was a demon scroll." Issun explained. "But I guess you already know what it is, judging by how fast you ran away."

"Ammy _did_ tell me to run." I pointed out, slightly raising an eyebrow at the poncle.

"…oh yeah…"

* * *

><p>"Anyway, it's bad karma, man. You could be attacked if you went in."<p>

"So we're going in, right?"

Issun interrupted Ammy's answer with a loud, "HECK NO!"

"…Really, Issun. You need to read your script. We have those things for a reason."

"Make me!"

Five minutes later, Issun, soaked with wolf slobber, bounced off to go figure out his lines.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Issun!" He came back.<p>

"Yeah, Silver? This better be good." I whispered something to him. "…you can't be serious. You wasted my time for that?"

"Please!" I gave him puppy dog eyes.

"…fine." He bounced back to Nameless man, talked for a minute, and came back. "Yourface. His name is Yourface."

* * *

><p>I looked over at the stream that was next to me. The water looked really gross, like a cross between mud and tar. And I stupidly decided to poke my paw into it for reasons I still can't figure out to this day.<p>

"Bleh!" I tried to shake it off my paw. "This is so gross!" The stuff refused to come off no matter how hard I shook. I gave a small whimper.

"You've gotta be kidding me, Silver." Issun groaned when he saw me. "Why'd you put your paw in there in the first place?!"

"Uhh…" I took five seconds trying to think of a reasonable explanation before deciding on, "Leap before you think?"

"That isn't mentioned until _after_ we restore Hana Valley!" Issun argued.

"Oh, so _now_ you know everything there is to know about the script."

* * *

><p>"Hey, check out that tree! It's moving!"<p>

"Ammy, look at that bug! It's talking!"

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"

Still wanted to see that expression.

* * *

><p>"Er…I mean, to train!" Susano tried to cover up his mistake.<p>

"I like trains."

Two seconds later, Ammy, Issun, and I were all hit by a train. How that got into Nippon is beyond me.

* * *

><p>"Hey, you two, check out this wall painting." Ammy and I actually listened to Issun for once and walked up to the painting. It looked pretty cool without the goop. "It's said that a crystal sphere that makes trees grow is enshrined somewhere around here. Based on this painting here, I'd say the rumor must be true. Still, something's not right. Don't you think there's something missing from this painting? Wait…I know! The sun! That's what's missing! Doesn't it just make you wanna draw it in yourself?"<p>

"No."

"Killjoy."

"Bug."

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"

* * *

><p>"I haven't seen anything remotely like a sacred tree around here." Issun complained.<p>

"I've seen a bug."

"WILL YOU DROP THAT?-!"

* * *

><p>Guess who was in the next room?<p>

Susano.

Guess what he was doing?

Something stupid.

Who was for whatever odd reason in the room with him?

Yourface.

I would offer you people cookies, but I seriously doubt anyone got that third answer right.

* * *

><p>What did he do next?<p>

He ran off laughing.

What did Yourface do next?

He was run over by a random train.

The non-existent cake goes to whoever guessed the second answer correctly!

* * *

><p>"What the?! Who turned out the lights?" Issun demanded.<p>

"Your face." The author randomly called from the side.

I turned towards her, prepared to powerslash the moron in half, before she pointed to something behind me. On turning around, I discovered Yourface standing there with his hand on a light switch embedded in the cliffside.

And that was when I decided all of Yourface's random appearances were getting just plain redundant.

* * *

><p>"Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…my gratitude for releasing my body from its slumber."<p>

"You're welcome, Sleeping Beauty."

"…"

* * *

><p>"Maybe it'll make the withered Guardian Sapling blossom, too!"<p>

"Well, there's only one way to find out!" I said, drawing a circle with my tail around the tree. It immediately burst into pink petals, and then the area around it began to be revived.

I wish someone would've warned me that revival apparently included an army of instinct-induced arrows to rise from the ground dancing Gangnam Style.

The worst part? Issun joined in. And I had the strangest feeling he was staring at me when he sang "Eeeeey sexy lady."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Ammy, Silver…what about that withered Guardian Sapling outside? I bet you two could revive it like you did this one! And by bringing that guardian sapling back to life, we might be able to lift the curse there, too! What are we waiting for? Leap before you think, right?"<p>

"I thought the saying was 'think before you leap'…" I trailed.

"Didn't you say leap before you think a few minutes ago?-!" Issun pointed out.

"Well excuuuuuuuuuse me, bug."

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF—"

* * *

><p>"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to die before this adventure is over?" I groaned.<p>

"Because you do! Chapter 18!" The author called from off the set.

"CAN YOU PLEASE STOP GIVING SPOILERS?-! Alright, take two…"

* * *

><p><em>Cool,<em> I almost said, but then stopped myself. If Issun was going to ignore me, then I would compliment his ideas.

"Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffft."

I sent a menacing glare in the direction of the noise. "Alright, author, you're the one who made the typo in the first place, so quit laughing."

"You mean like the time you felt a small nude to your shoulder?" Judging by the crash I heard, I guessed she must've fallen out of her chair laughing.

If I were in human form, I would've thrown up my arms in exasperation. "Well, so much for _good thing I haven't finished and submitted this chapter yet._ Now all the readers know about that typo. What do you have to say for yourself, moron?"

"I like trains."

It took us a couple weeks to fix up the set from the random train that came crashing through.

* * *

><p><em>(The author apologizes for any confusion that may have spawned from the previous blooper. Long story short, while the first chapter of OCCA was being written, there was a horrible typo of "nude" instead of "nudge." Figure out the rest for yourself.)<em>

* * *

><p>"Whoa, Ammy. Hold on!" We both stopped before a patch of dead grass, complete with a creepy cow skull. "Hana Valley looks so much better now, but…what about this gloomy patch of grass?"<p>

"It can go dine in a hole with its nonexistent boyfriend."

_And from this point forward, both author and OC agreed that no more inside jokes should be put into the bloopers._

* * *

><p>"But it si most enjoyable to talk in this manner." I protested in the same tone of voice.<p>

"…si?"

"Si. Apparently we're all speaking Spanish now."

* * *

><p>"Now you just sound too proper. And you've got weird accents."<p>

Now sporting a top hat and monocle, I added, "Like a sir."

* * *

><p>"I am afraid there are more urgent matters to attend to at the moment."<p>

"Like what, Amaterasu?"

"Like the fact that our third companion seems to be a bug."

"Aww, Ammy! Not you, too!"

* * *

><p>"What is this?" Ammy asked as she sniffed at what came out of the chest.<p>

For the fiftieth time that day, the author decided to stagewhisper, "Your face."

And, indeed, Yourface was lying beside the treasure chest for whatever reason.

"…Bob. Please, quit interrupting us. Do you have any idea what take we're on by now?"

* * *

><p>"So, are we gonna bloom this thing, or what?" Issun asked in an impatient tone. Amaterasu used bloom on the tree, and then the magic happened. AKA instinct-induced arrows once again rising from the ground wearing pink fairy outfits. They whacked us over the head with their plastic wands before flying away.<p>

I'm starting to question my own sanity.


End file.
